Ørsted has announced the completion of Helena Energy Center, a 518 MW combined wind and solar project located in Bee County, South Texas. The wind and solar centre is now fully operational and will generate enough renewable energy to power over 110,000 Texan homes and businesses annually.
The Helena Energy Center consists of the 268 MW wind farm Helena Wind and the 250 MWAC solar farm Sparta Solar and has secured contracts with multiple corporate offtakers.
David Hardy, Executive Vice President and CEO of Region Americas at Ørsted, said: 'Helena Energy Center is unique in that it’s Ørsted’s first co-located wind and solar project and the largest renewable energy project in our global onshore portfolio. Taking advantage of the Gulf of Mexico’s strong coastal winds and abundant sunshine, this project will offer reliable energy to Texas’ grid and economic opportunity for the local community. In reaching full operations, Helena Energy Center brings Ørsted’s global operating onshore portfolio to 4.8 GW. We look forward to building on that momentum as more onshore projects come online in the US this year.'
Ørsted has another more than 1.3 GW of onshore renewable assets under construction, of which approx. 1.1 GW are expected to become operational in 2024.
Celebration with local community
To celebrate completion of the project, Ørsted hosted a gathering attended by partners, landowners, community members, and local and state-elected officials at Helena’s facility, comprising 66 wind turbines and over 600,000 solar panels.
'This project should come as welcome news to all Texans as it provides significant clean power to our state at a time when all eyes are on grid reliability,' said Texas Senator Morgan LaMantia, who represents Bee County. 'I’m especially proud that the Bee County community will also benefit from workforce opportunities, public school support, and funding for rural areas like ours.'
The Construction of the Helena Energy Center created approximately 500 construction jobs and will create operations and maintenance jobs for decades.
Source: Ørsted
