After two years and $1 billion in renewable energy investments, Duke Energy has purchased its first wind farm in the eastern U.S.

Duke likes wind. It’s cheap to build and easy to scale compared to other renewable energy sources. The current acquisition is one of many wind power investments from Duke during the last two years.

The wind farm (which is currently not in operation, but will be by the end of the year, according to Duke) is called The North Allegheny Windpower Project and was set up by Gamesa Energy USA. It consists of 35 Gamesa wind turbines with the capacity of 2 megawatts each.

“This acquisition immediately expands our wind power portfolio beyond the western U.S., where we have half a dozen projects already in operation or under construction,” said Wouter van Kempen, president of Duke Energy Generation Services, in a statement.

The project is located in Blair and Cambria counties, 95 miles east of Pittsburgh. All the output from the wind farm is to be sold to FirstEnergy, via a 23.5-year agreement.

The acquisition could be seen in the perspective of which renewable energy is the cheapest. At least according to Duke's market strategy. The purchase of Catamount Energy for $320 million last year boosted Duke Energy’s wind-energy supplies, and van Kempen then said one of the reasons for investing in wind is the opportunity to scale the technology relatively fast and cheap compared to other sources.

Duke Energy, based in Charlotte, N.C., says it has more than 500 Megawatt of wind power in operation and that it will rise to more than 700 Megawatt before next year.