EDP Renewables North America completed its Blue Canyon II Wind Farm repowering, shoring up the future of renewable power for Caddo and Kiowa Counties.

EDP Renewables North America completed its first repowering project at the Blue Canyon II Wind Farm, which is one phase of the 423-MW four-phase project located in southwestern Oklahoma.

Credit: EDP Renewables

EDPR NA anticipates the repowering operation of its Blue Canyon II Wind Farm to extend the project’s life an additional 20 to 30 years. Seventy-three of Blue Canyon II’s 84 turbines were repowered, replacing each turbine’s nacelle, blades and the top tower section. The turbines were upgraded from V80 1.8-MW to V110 2-MW.

“Southwestern Oklahoma has an abundant wind resource and receptive community, which creates a favorable environment for a great wind project,” said Kris Cheney, executive VP of Central and Western Regions, Mexico and Environmental Affairs at EDP Renewables. “The repowering of Blue Canyon II was a success, and EDP Renewables is grateful to local residents for welcoming the Blue Canyon Wind Farm into their communities and being wonderful neighbors and partners to our company, as well.”

Circular economy is one of the key ESG priorities included in EDP Renewables’ 2021-2025 Strategic Update. In this sense, recycling of the decommissioned blades was a firm requirement from EDP Renewables in this repowering as the company is determined to accelerate the adoption of blade recycling practices across its projects.

EDP has adopted blade recycling which was deployed on this project and will be adopted across its projects.

Since coming online in 2003, Blue Canyon Wind Farm has produced enough electricity to power the equivalent of 94,000 average Oklahoma homes annually. The project generated more than $22.1 million in state and local tax revenue, paid local landowners more than $25.3 million and created 64 permanent jobs and 582 temporary construction jobs.

News item from EDP Renewables