September 13, 2013
Texas

Developer buys land rights in Armstrong, Carson counties

By Kevin Welch | Amarillo Globe-News | September 12, 2013 | amarillo.com

Boston-based First Wind has bought the rights to construct a wind farm over 20,000 acres in Armstrong and Carson counties.

Westerly Wind, which announced the sale Wednesday, and Big Sky Wind Energy of Amarillo developed the Route 66 Wind Power project.

The wind farm has a potential capacity of 200 megawatts, according to a news release. That would be enough to power about 70,000 houses if it could operate a full capacity constantly. In filings for tax abatements with the local school districts, the capacity was listed as 132 megawatts.

The companies didn’t disclose the financial terms, but based on estimates from the Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University, the cost of building a 132-megawatt wind farm would be about $264 million.

The turbines making up the farm will be spread out between Interstate 40 and U.S. Highway 287 east of Washburn, according to maps from the firms.

The facility will tap into a substation just north of the location that will put the energy it generates onto the new transmission lines that will take it to population centers in north and central Texas, according to the release.

The companies plan completion of the project for late 2014.

Purchaser First Wind has wind farms in Hawaii, Utah, Washington, Vermont, New York and Maine, according to information from the company.

Westerly Wind is a subsidiary of U.S. Renewables Group, a private equity firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York City.

On Aug. 20, Pattern Energy Group announced the start of construction of the Panhandle Wind Project north of the Route 66 project in Carson County. The 218-megawatt wind farm is owned by GE Energy Financial Services and Citigroup. Pattern developed the project over 18,000 acres. The project will sell its energy to Citigroup.

Pattern will oversee maintenance and operations after construction is complete around August 2014.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/09/13/developer-buys-land-rights-in-armstrong-carson-counties/