EDP Renewables SA, through its fully owned subsidiary EDP Renewables North America LLC, (EDPR NA), and flat-rolled steel company Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., has executed a 15-year power purchase agreement for 180 MW of the 200-MW Headwaters III Wind Farm in Randolph County. Headwaters III, about 70 miles east of Indianapolis along the Ohio border, is anticipated to be operational in 2025 and will, each year, power the equivalent of more than 54,000 average Indiana homes.
EDPR NA has developed and will construct, own, and operate Headwaters III Wind Farm, which is an extension of the operational 200-MW Headwaters I Wind Farm and the 198-MW Headwaters II Wind Farm in Randolph County. The project will create hundreds of jobs during peak construction and will employ local team members to operate and perform routine maintenance on the wind farm. Additional economic benefits in the form of landowner payments, local government payments, and an increase of money spent at businesses in the vicinity of the project will be disbursed as a result of the wind farm’s entrance into Winchester and projected 30-year lifespan. Headwaters III will save about 355 million gallons of water a year, the amount of water that would be needed by conventional generation sources to produce the same amount of capacity as the wind farm. The project will produce clean energy while minimizing impacts on wildlife, habitat, and other environmental resources.
Cleveland-Cliffs and EDP Renewables’ Headwaters III Wind Farm partnership will afford Cleveland-Cliffs the opportunity to advance its environmental and social sustainability goals, and enable EDPR NA to expand its portfolio in Indiana, where it maintains its position as the top producer of wind energy in the state.
“A key priority of Cleveland-Cliffs’ greenhouse gas reduction strategy revolves around the efficient use of energy and clean energy. We are committed to the greening of the grid through renewable energy projects such as the Headwaters III Wind Farm,” said Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president, and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. “This project is another step toward achieving Cleveland-Cliffs’ emission reduction goal of 25 percent by 2030 and will advance our portfolio of renewable energy initiatives that are additive to the power grid.”
“We are excited to begin our partnership with Cleveland-Cliffs to supply clean energy to support the production of American-made steel for a major American manufacturer,” said Sandhya Ganapathy, EDP Renewables North America CEO. “We look forward to the eventual operations of this third phase of the Headwaters Wind Farm, also made possible by our supportive partners in the Randolph County community.”
More info www.edpr.com/north-america
