September 23, 2016
New Mexico

Easement approved for wind project

Compiled by Staff Writer Eamon Scarbrough | Portales News-Tribune | September 22, 2016 | www.pntonline.com

At Tuesday’s Portales City Council meeting, councilors approved the renewal of a transmission and access easement for the proposed Roosevelt II Wind Project.

Infinity Renewables of Santa Barbara, California, plans to have the wind farm built in Roosevelt County, but a location and size for the project has not yet been determined.

Christina White, a project developer with Infinity Renewables, requested that councilors approve the easement, which is to be located near the city’s Blackwater well field, along New Mexico 202, northeast of Portales.

According to White, the extension was for a transmission access easement that was originally signed in 2011 and expired in August.

“The city was kind to grant us an extension up until the end of October, where it expires, hence the reason why I’m here today – to see if we can work towards extending the agreement for another five years, assuming the same payment structure and the same rights of way, with an additional right of way,” she said, which entails being able to connect the west side of the easements to the north/south side.

White also mentioned that Infinity Renewables is working on various ways to move the Roosevelt II Wind Project into the next phase of development by ascertaining costs and the project’s ability to pump electricity into the grid.

“We have two meteorological towers installed. We have more planned, given the extent of our project site boundary, and it helps us to better define wind characteristics,” she said. “We have a power marketing team that will focus on trying to get power purchase agreements with a utility or a merchant agreement with an entity, whether it’s like a Google or a Wal-Mart that’s actively seeking renewable energy sources. That, effectively – having a power contract – is what allows us to bring a project from development into construction,” she said.

According to White, the payment structure for the project currently costs the city $2,500 annually, but once in operation, it will cost $2,500 annually multiplied by the number of miles of transmission line installed over or under the transmission easement.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/09/23/easement-approved-for-wind-project/