Iberdrola nets $170M stimulus grant for Illinois wind project

Iberdrola Renewables’ investment in an Illinois wind farm yielded the company $170 million in federal stimulus grants — the largest amount ever given to a company for a renewable energy project.

Portland-based Iberdrola, the U.S. subsidiary of Spanish renewables developer Iberdrola Renovables SA, on Monday said it has now received a total of $867 million in stimulus grants.

The $787 billion federal stimulus bill passed in February 2009 made grants available to developers based on the size of their investment in a renewable energy project.

Iberdrola’s latest grant is the result of its estimated $600 million investment in the Cayuga Ridge wind farm, a 300-megawatt development south of Chicago that was commissioned March 1.

One of the world’s largest wind farms, Cayuga (pronounced “coogie”) is capable of producing enough electricity to power up to 90,000 homes.

Iberdrola said the federal grant money will be reinvested in other ongoing renewable energy projects in the United States, where the company plans to develop 1,000 megawatts per year in both 2011 and 2012.

Iberdrola is the U.S.’s second-largest wind power operator with an installed capacity of 3,877 megawatts produced at 41 wind farms in 23 states.

It has projects capable of 850 megawatts of capacity now under construction. Iberdrola developed the Klondike Wind Power Developments in Central Oregon which total about 400 megawatts of capacity.