Daily Research Sheets

Various wind farms are emerging on northwest Oklahoma’s plains because of the ongoing $2 billion projects by Invenergy. A similar wind farm project under the management and ownership of Duke Energy Renewables was activated this month. Additionally, ALLETE Clean Energy stated that it would be entering a power purchase agreement with two Fortune 500 companies for the energy that would be generated from a project by the company in southwestern Oklahoma’s Caddo County.

These projects are increasing in Oklahoma and other states after renewable energy investments by various stakeholders in this sector. This move comes amid the continued unrest between the supporters of fossil fuel energy and those advocating for the switch to clean energy technologies after extreme weather conditions in Texas and Oklahoma at the beginning of this year.

The supporters of fossil fuel energy outlined that switching to clean energy might result in a high unemployment rate and high energy cost for both businesses and the citizens. However, companies are happy to witness these two sectors’ investment since they make the energy being supplied to the market affordable. Moreover, Joe Biden’s latest state of the nation address implored an infrastructure development plan supporting the transition to clean renewable energy. This move seems to favor this industry as the country hopes to minimize the greenhouse gas emissions emerging from its energy sector. The vice president of the Advanced Power Alliance, Mark Yates, stated that more projects would be gracing Oklahoma to ensure that the state leads the race for the development of renewable energy infrastructure.

Yates noted that over 10 gigawatts of solar energy and storage projects under establishment in Oklahoma had requested authentication and a certificate of commencement of operations from the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). This move would allow the projects to supply their power to Oklahoma’s grids and specifically in the Great Plains region. The executive added that these projects are just a preliminary of what they would be transforming the state into once they bring together the resources to explore renewables.

Duke Energy Renewables has topped up 350MW of renewable energy into this energy mix from the company’s active Frontier II Windpower project. The first phase of this project generated 200MW of energy and started supplying to the grids over six years ago. All these projects will help to supply power that meets the demands of over 190000 households. The power purchase agreements will ensure that the energy sector is insulated against energy price fluctuations. Finally, these projects will create employment opportunities for the people of Oklahoma state.