On Tuesday, the small town of Milford, Utah played host to a renewable energy watershed event of national importance.
First Wind, based in Boston, has finished building Utah's largest wind energy array near Milford.
From Massachusetts to rural Utah to Southern California, the Milford Wind Corridor buildout will advance the interests of First Wind, other connected companies like Wisconsin's engineering and construction firm RMT, and important local governments with ambitious clean energy targets.
The 203.5 MW wind farm led to $86 million in total spending and created hundreds of jobs during its first phases, and ongoing maintenance & operations will provide employment and energy security to the Milford area and the wind farm's customers.
As it happens, Utah's biggest city—Salt Lake City—is not the primary city-level consumer base that First Wind has lined up to tap its new western capacity.
The 97 turbines at Milford will generate power for the Southern California Public Power Authority under a 20-year purchasing power agreement (PPA) that guarantees energy to the SoCal grid and revenue to First Wind.
The city utilities of Pasadena and Burbank are also directly involved in the Milford project, and all parties involved are proving that top wind energy companies can be connected to hungry power markets and can be financed amply—Royal Bank of Scotland arranged $376 million in project financing for First Wind and its partners.
We'll keep you up to date with this important step in making the cities of the Southwest cleaner and less prone to power outages.
-Sam Hopkins
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