ALLETE Clean Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE: ALE), has entered a new customer segment after signing a 5-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to sell wind power to Seattle City Light, the company’s first municipal customer.
Seattle City Light, among the top-ten largest municipal utilities in the nation with more than 493,000 customers in Seattle, will purchase power from ALLETE Clean Energy’s 50-megawatt Condon wind site in northern Oregon. The PPA also includes an agreement to jointly explore adding solar energy and/or energy storage capacity at the Condon site.
“We’re excited to provide affordable, renewable wind energy to Seattle City Light from our Condon wind site and proud to help Seattle City Light meet their sustainability goals as we advance the clean-energy future,” said ALLETE Clean Energy President Nicole Johnson. “This agreement also furthers our strategy of leveraging our existing wind sites with potential for complementary renewable additions and gaining new contracts.”
ALLETE Clean Energy completed a refurbishment project at the Condon wind site in 2019 to extend its operating life and requalify the site for federal production tax credits. The project included equipment and system upgrades necessary to maintain its high operating availability and clean-energy production performance.
“Seattle City Light prioritizes creating our energy future on behalf of and in partnership with our customers and the communities we serve,” says Emeka Anyanwu, Energy Innovation & Resources Officer. “To meet reliability, affordability, and environmental responsiveness goals, we strive to leverage resources like the Condon project to expand our supply mix with renewable energy resources supporting our efforts to enable decarbonization through electrification of transportation, buildings, and industry. In doing so, we will help communities to shift further away from fossil fuels, meeting the climate crisis head-on.”
ALLETE Clean Energy also serves five Fortune 500 companies from its Diamond Spring and Caddo wind sites in Oklahoma and a number of large electric utilities from its other wind sites. It recently developed the 91-megawatt Red Barn wind site in Wisconsin and sold it to Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and Madison Gas and Electric Co.
ALLETE Clean Energy owns, operates, and has delivered build-transfer projects totaling more than 1,500 megawatts of nameplate wind capacity across eight states. The company is well-positioned to drive additional clean-energy sector growth.
About ALLETE Clean Energy
ALLETE an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth; BNI Energy in Bismarck, North Dakota; and New Energy Equity, headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland; and has an 8% equity interest in the American Transmission Co.