In some states, where the electricity market has been deregulated, it is possible for the owner of a wind project to sell electricity directly to customers. However, wind developers usually sell their electricity to electric utilities, which sell the electricity to customers. T his is usually done by negotiating a power purchase agreement, which is a contract requiring a utility to buy the electricity from a wind farm at a certain price over a certain period of time. In some cases, an alternative arrangement is reached, in which the developer owns a share of the project long enough to make a specified amount of money. After this point, the ownership in the project “flips,” and the utility ends up owning the project.
