September 15, 2011
Nevada

Good Energies venture plans 990-megawatt wind farm in Nevada

By Andrew Herndon, www.bloomberg.com 14 September 2011

Champlin/GEI Wind Holdings LLC, a North American wind-energy developer backed by Good Energies Inc., asked state regulators for permission to build a 990- megawatt wind farm in southeast Nevada.

The project would use as many as 350 turbines, according to a permit application filed with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission. The cost wasn’t disclosed.

The project is one of the first proposed by Santa Barbara, California-based Champlin/GEI since its creation in November, after Good Energies agreed to provide as much as $50 million to co-owner Champlin Windpower LLC, a closely held company formed in 2006 to develop U.S. projects.

The Wilson Creek project would be located on federal land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Pioche, in Lincoln County, Nevada, according to the Aug. 31 application.

The project would be developed in phases and would require a right of way from the federal government in addition to state permits. The agency began environmental analysis in July, and the capacity of the first phase would be as much as 500 megawatts.

Champlin/GEI is developing other sites in California, Hawaii, Utah, and Nevada it estimates may have total capacity of 4,500 megawatts, Casey Willis, senior project manager, said today in an e-mail.

“The company is looking to expand into the Northwest and Midwest by buying early- to mid-stage wind projects,” Willis said. Wilson Creek’s first phase may come online in 2015, he said.

NextEra Energy Resources LLC operates the largest wind power plant in the U.S., the 735.5-megawatt Horse Hollow project in Texas. Terra-Gen Power LLC is building the 1,550-megawatt Alta Wind Energy Center in southern California, and Caithness Energy LLC is constructing its 845-megawatt Shepherds Flat project in Oregon.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/15/good-energies-venture-plans-990-megawatt-wind-farm-in-nevada/