Construction of a combined wind and photovoltaic (PV)-solar project in South Texas has commenced, according to a release on March 30 by Danish energy company Ørsted.

The Helena Energy Center, which is located in Bee County, Texas, consists of 268 MW Helena Wind and 250 MWac PV-solar Sparta Solar. The project has already secured contracts with multiple corporate offtakers, including Henkel for a portion of the wind generation and Target for a portion of the solar generation.

Ørsted said March 30 it has taken a final investment decision on the Helena Energy Center project, which will be its largest onshore project to date. The company expects the project to be operational in the first half of 2022.

“We’ve quickly become one of the largest constructors of new wind and solar in the U.S., and having world-class capabilities in all facets of energy markets is central to our ambitious growth plans,” Declan Flanagan, executive vice president and CEO Onshore at Ørsted, said in a statement.

The Helena Energy Center project takes Ørsted’s onshore operational and under construction portfolio in the U.S., which spans Texas, the Midwest and Southeast U.S. across wind, solar and storage, to 4 GW. The company is ranked among the top five US constructors in terms of capacity additions in 2020, according to its release.

As part of the Helena Energy Center project, Ørsted said it will also partner with the Texas Native Seeds Program, a non-profit research and development program of Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M - Kingsville, to research the optimal seed mix and planting process to grow native grasses under a portion of the solar project. The company said potential benefits include lower operational costs, enhanced biodiversity to attract pollinators, lower erosion and production improvements by lowering the ambient temperature.

Comments