ENGIE North America Inc. announced it has acquired the 151.2 MW Dakota Range III wind project from Apex Clean Energy and entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Xcel Energy for the project's full capacity.

The project, located in northeastern South Dakota, will generate significant benefits to the local area, with annual payments to landowners under land easements, local job creation during both construction and commercial operation, purchases of local goods and services, and local tax payments.

"Dakota Range III continues ENGIE's significant expansion in the utility-scale renewable market via both greenfield development and acquisition," said Matt Riley, Senior Vice President and Head of U.S. Wind Development at ENGIE North America. "We look forward to completing development of the project with Apex by the summer of 2019, and to serving Xcel Energy, one of the most ambitious investors in renewable energy of any utility in the country."

"Energy trends-including the falling cost of renewables and increased awareness around cutting emissions-are growing the market for the clean energy facilities and services that Apex delivers," said Mark Goodwin, Apex Clean Energy president and CEO. "Dakota Range III demonstrates Apex's flexibility in completing transactions at every stage of the project life cycle, and we're proud to expand our track record of partnering with forward-looking energy companies like ENGIE and Xcel."

"We are pleased to once again work with Apex, and now ENGIE, to bring cost-effective renewable energy to our customers," said Chris Clark, president, Xcel Energy - South Dakota. "We have a clean energy strategy to nearly double the amount of wind energy on our system in the Upper Midwest by 2022 and this investment in Dakota Range III gets us closer to that goal."

ENGIE North America | www.engie-na.com