AVANGRID Unit Brings Wind Farms Online, Lowers Emission

AVANGRID, Inc.‘s (NYSE:AGR) subsidiary, Avangrid Renewables, announced that it has begun commercial operations of three new wind farms. The unit began the operation ofTule Wind Farm with generation capacity of 131 megawatts (MW) in California. Other two are, the 298 MW El Cabo Wind Farm in New Mexico, and a 75 MW Twin Buttes II Wind Farm in Colorado.

Details of the Wind Farms

The Tule project located in the San Diego County comprises 57 of General Electric (NYSE:GE) unit’s wind turbines and supplies renewable energy under a 15-year contract to Southern California Edison (“SCE”), an Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company.

The El Cabo Wind Farm, in Torrance County, encompasses 142 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, and will also supply renewable energy to SCE. The Twin Buttes II Wind Farm located near Avangrid Renewables’ existing Twin Buttes Wind Farm features 36 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines. It will supply renewable energy under a 25-year contract to Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. (Tri-State).

Renewables’ Popularity among Utilities

The carbon-free power production and declining production costs are factors driving the popularity of the renewable sources for electricity production among utilities. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects wind capacity to reach 104 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2019 from 2017 end level of 88 GW.

Avangrid Renewables has brought nearly 800 megawatts (MW) of renewables online in 2017. In 2018, Avangrid Renewables has brought over 500 MW of new wind farms online in California, New Mexico, and Colorado, having long-term energy contracts. The company’s long-term plan is to add 1.8 GW of new wind and solar assets to its U.S. fleet within 2016-2020 period. The company currently has 3,300 wind turbines across 22 states. The ongoing green projects will help the company to achieve its carbon emission reduction of 25% by 2020.

Further, it aims to invest nearly $3.3 billion in 2017-2020 to fulfill renewable goals. Despite the new U.S. administration’s initiatives to promote usage of coal, renewable energy’s popularity has encouraged another utility, Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) to invest toward enhancing renewable generation assets. As of Sep 30, 2017, it had renewable generating capacity of 1,291 MW, up from 2016-end level of 1,098 MW.

Price Movement

In a month shares of AVANGRID have lost 6.4%, wider than the industry’s decline of 6%.

Zacks Rank

AVANGRID currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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