American renewable energy giant, Pattern Energy Group, has closed finances and announced the commencement of construction of its 1050 MW wind park in New Mexico. Along with the construction of the wind park, the company also began work on the installation of the Western Spirit Transmission line which is owned by the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. The new wind park will be developed in the counties of Guadalupe, Lincoln, and Torrance and will consist of 377 turbines which will be supplied and serviced by GE under a ten-year contract. Further, each turbine will have a capacity ranging between 2.3 MW and 2.8 MW.
The wind farms are expected to be operational and will be integrated into the new 241 km long, 345kV Western Spirit transmission line. The New Mexico region receives strong winds relative to the rest of the United States and Pattern Energy is confident of harnessing the resource. The project is expected to be the largest ever single-phase construction of renewable power in the country. It is also expected to have a net economic impact of $2 billion and generate about 1000 jobs.
Pattern Energy has an operational portfolio that includes 28 renewable energy facilities with a total installed capacity of 4.4 GW across the United States, Canada, and Japan. The company has about 4.5 GW of renewable energy projects which represent about $9.5 billion in planned investments in New Mexico which are in various stages of development.