Wind Power News: New Mexico
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Residents wary of mesa wind farm deal
A Chicago-based energy company has signed a two-year option on more than 7,000 acres of state trust land on a mesa top in San Miguel County for a potential wind farm.
Some residents oppose the plan by Invenergy to place up to 50 wind turbines on the mesa that borders radio shock jock Don Imus’ ranch off Interstate 25 near Bernal.
Mark Jacobson, director of business development for Invenergy, said the company is still completing environmental studies required by the . . .
Turbine parts recalled
Two sections of the wind turbine tower already installed at Mesalands Community College will be dismantled and replaced because of a manufacturer’s recall, said Phillip Barry, president of the college.
The General Electric recall only affects the base and mid-section, which were installed on Sunday, Barry said.
The replacement parts should arrive by Thursday or Friday, he said.
The 1.5 megawatt turbine is the centerpiece of a Mesalands’ new wind energy technology program that was launched earlier this year.
Barry . . .
What politicians aren't telling us about wind power
I stayed close to home for the Fourth of July weekend. My wife and I spent a very enjoyable weekend camping near Mills Canyon in Harding County. We did it to save gasoline, as many others did. My thoughts, like those of many others, centered on how we are going to get out of this high priced crude-oil mess we have gotten ourselves into. I still want to travel and visit family.
Most of my friends are sold on alternative energy . . .
Wind farms could soon blow on to Taos County’s horizon
Wind-power entrepreneurs still don’t know if they have enough consistent winds west of the Río Grande Gorge to be commercially profitable.
However, the group headed by Taos attorney Eliu Romero is going ahead with plans to get a county permit to allow them to install some 65 wind turbines for the county’s first wind farms. A July 8 hearing is scheduled in front of the Taos County Planning Commission. “The people with the money for this project need a year’s data,” . . .
Another power corridor planned through Pinal
Another major electric power transmission corridor is being proposed through Pinal County.
A consortium of power providers has begun initial work on getting approval for a 500-mile transmission line corridor running from east of Alamogordo, N.M., down through the Las Cruces and Deming, N.M., areas, then into Arizona, running to the Tucson area and then north through the Coolidge-Florence area toward Phoenix.
Garrett Motors
The project’s Internet site says the corridor being applied for would be wide enough to handle two 500-kV lines. . . .
Wind farm may be on the way for Sandia, Kirtland AFB
Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base may soon share a wind farm that will provide as much as one-third of the electricity used by the two entities.
The Labs’ Wind Energy Technology Department and the U.S. Department of Energy Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program have embarked on a project to determine if such a plant is viable and to build a roughly 30-megawatt (MW) farm on the air base. A private company would design, build, and operate the farm, . . .
Power plant transmission line project would go through Cochise County
BISBEE — With the burgeoning population growth in Arizona and the growing inclination to turn to renewable energy sources, some improvements are going to have to be made to the capacity of the transmission grid.
SouthWestern Power Group announced Monday an agreement with four partners to proceed with development of the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project, a proposed high-capacity electrical transmission line between Arizona and New Mexico.
So, the new transmission line planned by the partnership consisting of SWPG, Salt River Project, Tucson . . .
Ariz.-N.M. power corridor launches with Salt River Project, other players
A proposed power corridor between Arizona and New Mexico capable of providing more renewable energy is moving forward toward regulatory hearings in both states now that partners have officially signed on.
SouthWestern Power Group II LLC announced Monday that Salt River Project and Tucson Electric Power Co., along with Energy Capital Partners and Shell WindEnergy Inc., have signed on to the development team of the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project.
SouthWestern Power will be the project manager shepherding the proposed transmission lines . . .
Lesser prairie-chicken decline concerns biologists
A small number of serious bird watchers worldwide have been privileged to see the mesmerizing dance of the lesser prairie-chicken during their spring breeding season. For others who desire to see this ancient and vocal all-out effort by the prairie grouse, time may be ticking away.
During a daybreak ritual, males seek out ridge tops of expansive prairie land for the booming, gobbling and frenetic display used to socialize and compete for females. Activity on these communal breeding grounds known as . . .
Agency looking into small wind energy projects
Large wind farms that supply electricity to major power grids are still a long way from coming to the immediate Clovis area, according to Eastern Plains Council of Government Executive Director Lee Tillman.
However, he said the wind in eastern New Mexico could be used by individual companies as a source of power.
“There’s a great potential with smaller (wind) projects, but we haven’t been able to foster that development of small wind turbines in New Mexico,” he said.
EPCOG has been studying . . .
