Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has signed a long-term contract with Arlington-based AES Corporation for up to 70 megawatts of wind-generated electric power.

Glen Allen-based ODEC, the primary power provider for 12 member electric distribution cooperatives in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, will purchase the energy output and renewable energy credits from AES's Armenia Mountain Wind Energy Project in north central Pennsylvania.

Plans call for the first phase of the Armenia Mountain Wind Energy Project to be completed by November 2009 and to produce 100.5 megawatts of electricity utilizing 67 General Electric wind turbines. A second phase could add 26 more turbines.

Said ODEC CEO Jackson E. Reasor in a prepared statement: "This contract with AES for wind generated energy is part of ODEC's long-term plan to further diversify our portfolio of power supply resources for our member distribution cooperatives and the over 500,000 consumer-members they serve. Economically viable renewable resources, such as this project, will play a growing role in our power supply diversification efforts."

Previously, ODEC had announced that it would purchase 100 percent of the power generated by a landfill gas-to-energy project in Maryland and a hydroelectric project in Alleghany County, Va.