| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Wind Power News: New Mexico
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Renewable energy giant acquires SunZia transmission project
Pattern Energy announced plans Monday to invest $8 billion in New Mexico-based wind generation and new transmission infrastructure after acquiring partial ownership over the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project. The Southwestern Power Group has been working since 2008 to develop SunZia, a massive transmission project that would carry wind-generated electricity from Central New Mexico to Arizona for export to western markets. Pattern has now purchased the rights to build one of two 550-mile transmission lines contemplated in the SunZia project for . . . Complete story »
New Mexico inks trust land leases for massive wind project
New Mexico’s public land commissioner on Monday signed nearly a dozen leases that will clear the way for a major renewable energy developer to erect wind turbines across 230 square miles (595 square kilometers) of state trust land. Officials are billing Pattern Energy’s planned development in Lincoln, Torrance and San Miguel counties as the largest wind energy project in the western hemisphere. The company at the end of 2021 brought online four wind farms in central New Mexico totaling more . . . Complete story »
New Mexico leases 174,000 acres of public land for wind power
Renewable energy in New Mexico could triple after the State Land Office completed an auction of public land throughout the state to be used for wind energy production. The land leases sold in the auction went to Pattern Energy – about 147,685 acres – and could increase renewable energy capacity on state land to more than 1,200 megawatts, compared with about 400 MW in 2019. The 11 leases sold to Pattern in the auction were mostly in central New Mexico, with . . . Complete story »
What we know about New Mexico’s proposed renewable energy power lines
New Mexico’s burgeoning renewable energy sector could supply thousands of volts of power to urban markets to the west in California and Arizona. To do that, the state will need the infrastructure to transport power from wind and solar installations in southeast New Mexico across the state. That’s why the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was studying the environmental impact of the proposed SunZia Southwest Transmission Project and amendments the agency approved in 2015. The project would see two 500 . . . Complete story »
County considers regulation of renewable energy projects
During their work session Tuesday, the Grant County Commission discussed the possibility of a future ordinance for renewable energy facilities which are slowly working their way into the area. Planning and Community Development Director Priscilla Shoup said developers are calling her weekly, inquiring about constructing solar or wind energy facilities in the county. “We are getting quite a few developers who want to do this in the county, and by a few, I mean we’re getting a number of calls . . . Complete story »
Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing eagles
The wind energy company ESI Energy Inc. (ESI) must pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution and serve a five-year probation after pleading guilty to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, according to a statement released by the United States Department of Justice. In the U.S., ESI is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc., one of the largest providers of renewable energy, per Reuters’ Barbara Goldberg. The company deliberately elected not to apply for proper permits for “any . . . Complete story »
Ruling on eagle deaths divides wind power industry
The sentencing of a wind energy company this week in the deaths of at least 150 eagles has brought renewed focus to the complicated relationship between wind turbines and birds. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy, the world’s biggest generator of wind and solar power, pleaded guilty to three deaths of bald and golden eagles in Wyoming and New Mexico. It also acknowledged that more than 100 other eagles had been killed across 50 of its 54 wind farms, primarily during . . . Complete story »
Wind operator to pay $8M in pact over killing eagles
A leading wind farm operator has agreed to pay fines and other fees totaling just over $8 million, plus potentially spending millions of additional dollars, because its operations were linked to the deaths of at least 150 eagles over about a decade. Partly at issue was whether the energy producer should have applied for permits before its operations killed the birds, or if the business should have taken other actions. The legal case points up the fact that responsible wind . . . Complete story »
Energy company to pay up to $35 million after turbines killed eagles
An American wind energy company has admitted to killing at least 150 bald and golden eagles, most of which were fatally struck by wind turbine blades, federal prosecutors said. ESI Energy pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) after eagles died at three of its facilities in Wyoming and New Mexico, according to a statement from the Justice Department. The MBTA prohibits killing, capturing or transporting protected migratory bird species without a permit. . . . Complete story »
US firm fined $8m after 150 eagles die at its wind farms
A US-based wind energy firm called ESI Energy, has been slapped with an $8m fine after at least 150 eagles died at its wind farms across eight states over the last 10 years. The company has also been given five years of probation. ESI Energy, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, has pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The company acknowledged the deaths of golden and bald eagles since 2012 at its farms in Wyoming, . . . Complete story »
