ALLETE Clean Energy to refurbish turbines of four wind projects in US

ALLETE Clean Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE, has announced that it is refurbishing its 50 megawatt Condon Wind facility in Oregon, with the project scheduled to be completed in 2019.

The refurbishment will extend the operating life of the facility, sustain its high level of operating availability and requalify the site for federal production tax credits. The project also will position the site for recontracting after the existing power sales agreement with Bonneville Power Administration expires in late 2022.

The investment in the facility includes equipment and system upgrades necessary to drive high availability and clean energy production performance. ALLETE Clean Energy acquired the Condon facility from AES Corporation in 2014 as part of a portfolio acquisition that included wind facilities at Storm Lake in Iowa, Lake Benton in Minnesota and Armenia Mountain in Pennsylvania.

In addition to the Condon project, ALLETE Clean Energy is refurbishing 385 turbines at the Lake Benton and Storm Lake sites to improve turbine performance and reliability, generate federal production tax credits at each site and support the renewal of power sales agreements at Storm Lake.