Last week at Community Coffee, an update for the North Central energy facilities of the wind project was announced.
This update was given by Kristi Sproul, the external affairs manager who is overseeing the wind project. She said all five regulatory approvals which were needed to move forward for the 1485 megawatt project were approved.
Sproul said this project will serve PSO customers.
A big question many ask is when construction for this project will start. Sproul said there are there are three different facilities; the Sundance Project in Woods County which will kick off in the fall of 2020, the Maverick Project in Major County, and the Traverse Project which is in Custer and Blaine Counties.
She said the Traverse Project is estimated to begin in the winter of 2020. The Traverse Project is the largest of the three, which is 999 megawatts, and is estimated to bring in 400 construction workers, as well as about 32 full-time jobs. These full time jobs will be open to wind technicians, in addition to administrative roles for the facility.
Sproul said the Traverse Project will save PSO customers about $1 billion in the next 30 years. A project of this size will also be bringing a large economic impact for Western and Northwest Oklahoma, which is estimated to be about a $2 billion impact.
Invenergy is PSO’s developer and PSO is set to purchase those assets once they’ve been developed. Sproul said PSO’s goal is to have those assets online by the start of 2022.
Sproul said the receipts for these projects are expected to bring in about $680 million in the next 30 years. She said the bulk of this money will be going toward K-12, career technology centers and the county government.
Sproul said this project will be a good influx of jobs for the community, as well as lower priced energy and money to benefit the schools.