United States-based developer WEC Energy has agreed to acquire a 90 per cent stake in Invenergy’s 250 MW Sapphire Sky wind farm in Illinois. The ownership interest in the project in McLean County, which will include 64 turbines, is anticipated to cost WEC $412 million. By the end of 2022, the project is set to begin commercial operations.
Sapphire Sky will generate renewable energy, which will be supplied under a long-term power purchase agreement with a Fortune 100 global high-tech firm. The project is the next stage in their long-term strategy to accelerate the development of inexpensive, reliable, and clean energy.
The company has also proposed investments in eight major wind farms totaling more than 1.5 GW of capacity with this project. This will assist in fulfilling the energy demands of one of the world’s leading high-tech firms while also increasing revenues from our renewable asset portfolio.
WEC also has other projects planned in the United States. Recently, the WEC Energy Group also announced plans for a 310 MW solar and battery storage project. If approved, the Paris Solar-Battery Park in Kenosha County would be the largest facility of its kind in Wisconsin. The facility would feature 200 MW of solar generation which will power 60,000 homes and 110 MW of battery storage which can store solar power and discharge it when the sun sets.
