Southern Company's Unit Buys Fourth Wind Project In Oklahoma

Southern Company’s (NYSE:SO) subsidiary, Southern Power, recently inked a deal to acquire 100-megawatt Wildhorse Mountain Wind Facility, representing its fourth wind project in Oklahoma. The project was developed by Roaring Fork Wind, a co-development partnership between Renewable Energy Systems Americas and Vestas. The buyout of 100-megawatt Wildhorse Mountain Wind Facility marks Southern Company’s 10th project nationwide. It will increase its wind generation capacity to 1600 megawatts. The financial details of the acquisition have been kept under wraps.

The Wildhorse Mountain Wind project will consist of 20 wind turbines supplied by Vestas. While Vestas will help in the long-term maintenance of the turbines through a 20-year service agreement, Renewable Energy Systems will be handling the remaining construction duties. The project is expected to come online in the fourth quarter of 2019 and once operational, the energy generated by the facility will be sold to Arkansas Electric Cooperative under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The move is in line with the company’s strategy to boost its wholesale business by acquiring and developing generating assets.

About the Company

Atlanta, GA-based Southern Company is one of the largest utilities in the United States. It boasts a generating capacity of 46,000 megawatts, around 200,000 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines and more than 80,000 miles of natural gas pipelines. The company’s operations include wholesale electricity generation and natural gas services, retail energy services and natural gas storage operations throughout the country.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Currently, Southern Company carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked players in the energy space include Nine Energy Service, Inc. (NYSE:NINE) , Geopark Limited (NYSE:GPRK) and Select Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE:WTTR) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Nine Energy’s 2018 earnings are expected to grow 181.67% year over year.

Geopark’s 2018 earnings are expected to grow 745.516% year over year.

Select Energy delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 189.58% in the trailing four quarters.

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