New Mexico
Meet GE Vernova. It’s supplying wind turbines to $11 billion project in New Mexico.
A Massachusetts-based company will supply hundreds of wind turbines to the SunZia Wind project in central New Mexico, an array touted as the largest in the western hemisphere.
GE Vernova was contracted by SunZia owner Pattern Energy to provide 674 turbines, the largest in the company’s history, estimated to generated 2.4 gigawatts of power.
The contract included the equipment and a long-term services deal, according to a company announcement.
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GE Vernova is a subsidiary of General Electric, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts designed to build and service renewable energy projects throughout the U.S.
In 2021, the company then named GE Renewable Energy supplied 377 turbines producing 1,050 megawatts to Patterns Western Spirit Wind farms in Guadalupe, Torrance and Lincoln counties.
In total, SunZia will produce about 3.5 GW of energy at the wind farm in Lincoln, Torrance and San Miguel counties, bring the companies’ total capacity to about 4 GW of wind power in New Mexico.
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Internationaly, GE Vernova on Jan. 16 announced its power conversion business was equipping ships owned by the United Kingdom with hybrid engines as a means of decarbonizing the UK Ministry of Defense and on Jan. 15 said was hired to modernize gas plants in Kuwait – reducing carbon emission equivalent to 16,000 cars on the road.
SunZia project in New Mexico moves forward amid energy transition
The SunZia project also included a 550-mile transmission line sending the energy through southern New Mexico to a termination point in Pinal County, Arizona where it will then be sent into urban markets of southern California.
Pattern recently announced it received final approvals and investment funding to begin construction at the end of 2023, with it expected to go into service in 2026.
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Vernova Chief Executive Officer Scott Strazik said the project was bolstered by federal funding available through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a signature package of environmental and infrastructure legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022.
Strazik said the bill created the “certainty” needed to increase investments in large-scale renewable energy projects like SunZia.
“We are pleased to support Pattern Energy on this monumental project that reinforces the key role wind power has in delivering renewable energy to meet the growing demand for power in the Western U.S. and in accelerating the energy transition,” he said.
“The project is a great example of how the policy certainty created by the IRA is helping to drive significant investments in the U.S. wind power market.”
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The turbines will be supplied using Vernova’s tower manufacturing facility in Belen, along with others in Pueblo, Colorado and Amarillo, Texas.
How will wind power project benefit New Mexico?
In total, Pattern estimated the wind and transmission projects will produce about $20.5 billion in economic benefits for New Mexico communities on a $16 billion investment in the state.
It will bring 100 permanent, and 2,000 temporary construction jobs to the state at the wind farm and along the transmission line’s route.
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Pattern CEO Hunter Armistead said the project would generate enough renewable energy for three million Americans, and that the manufacturing work was being completed in the U.S., driving domestic jobs.
“Nacelles and towers for the GE turbine are being domestically produced right here in the United States, helping SunZia create thousands of new jobs in manufacturing and construction,” he said.
Vic Abate, Vernova chief technical officer and CEO of its wind business said the project and others like will aid the U.S. in reducing pollution created by energy production.
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“These investments are aiding the country’s efforts to decarbonize the electric grid in support of climate change goals,” Abate said. “Mega projects like SunZia, coupled with the IRA, are enabling our continued investments in wind technology, domestic manufacturing, and product quality.”
Owners hope to allay conservation concerns of SunZia line’s route
The SunZia project was not without controversy since its design and federal review began in 2006.
The project went through several route adjustments, regulatory changes and shifted ownership to Pattern Energy in 2022.
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Concerns were raised chiefly for the transmission lines route through a river crossing near Socorro, which critics said could imperil migratory birds as it would cross the Rio Grande between the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge to the north and Bosque del Apache to the south.
Similar fears were voiced in Arizona and a crossing through the San Pedro River Basin.
In 2020, the project’s route was adjusted to avoid crossing through White Sands Missile Range, a move that appeared to alleviate some of the concerns in New Mexico.
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In August 2023, the Audubon Society released a report detailing the impacts of transmission lines on migratory birds, specifically mentioning SunZia as a “case study” in how developments can benefit conservation.
The reported noted the change to the line’s route to avoid the missile range also moved it out of the Rio Grande crossing, which the Society believed would risk collisions with migrating Sandhill Cranes.
Other technologies were also used like ultraviolet light-based systems to prevent collisions by making the line more visible to the birds, the report read.
It noted Pattern and other developers of SunZia collaborated with the Audubon society and conservation groups to address such concerns for the project.
“This approach is essential to optimize mitigation for birds, ensure the best data and science are used, and make projects into long-term successes worthy of Audubon’s support,” the report read.
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.
The governor sets the agenda for the session, including for the budget, so here is what they are looking at so far.
SANTA FE, N.M. — As the regular session of the New Mexico Legislature is set to begin Jan. 20, lawmakers have already filed dozens of bills.
Bills include prohibiting book bans at public libraries and protections against AI, specifically the distribution of sensitive and “Deepfake” images
Juvenile justice reform is, again, a hot topic. House Bill 25 would allow access to someone’s juvenile records during a background check if they’re trying to buy a gun.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sets the agenda and puts forth the proposed budget lawmakers will address during the session. The governor is calling for lawmakers to take up an $11.3 billion budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which is up 4.6% from current spending levels.
Where would that money go? More than $600 million would go to universal free child care. Meanwhile, more than $200 million would go to health care and to protect against federal funding cuts.
There is also $65 million for statewide affordable housing initiatives and $19 million for public safety.
After years of failure to land a “big fish” business for New Mexico’s economy (or effectively use the oil and gas revenues to grow the economy) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with the help of her Economic Development Secretary Rob Black have lured no fewer than three large data centers to New Mexico. These data centers are being built to serve the booming world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and they will have profound impacts on New Mexico.
It is our view that having these data centers locate in New Mexico is better than having them locate elsewhere. While we have many differences of opinion with this governor, we are pleased to see her get serious about growing and diversifying New Mexico’s oil-dependent economy albeit quite late in her second term.
Sadly, the governor and legislature have chosen not to use broad based economic reforms like deregulation or tax cuts to improve New Mexico’s competitiveness. But, with the failure of her “preferred” economic development “wins” like Maxeon and Ebon solar both of which the governor announced a few years ago, but haven’t panned out, the focus on a more realistic strategy is welcome and long overdue.
Currently, three new data centers are slated to be built in New Mexico:
- Oracle’s Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa with an investment of $165 billion.
- Project Zenith slated to be built in Roswell amounts to a $11.7 billion investment.
- New Era Energy & Digital, Inc. While the overall investment is unclear, the energy requirement is the largest of the three at 7 gigawatts (that’s seven times the power used by the City of San Francisco).
What is a data center? Basically, they are the real-world computing infrastructure that makes up the Internet. The rise of AI requires vast new computing power. It is critical that these facilities have uninterrupted electricity.
That electricity is going to be largely generated by traditional sources like natural gas and possibly nuclear. That contravenes New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act of 2019 which was adopted by this Gov. and many of the legislators still in office. Under the Act electrical power emissions are supposed to be eliminated in a few years.
With the amount of money being invested in these facilities and the simple fact that wind and solar and other “renewable” energy sources aren’t going to get the job done. In 2025 the Legislature passed and MLG signed HB 93 which allows for the creation of “microgrids” that won’t tax the grid and make our electricity more expensive, but the ETA will have to be amended or ignored to provide enough electricity for these data centers. There’s no other option.
New Mexicans have every right to wonder why powerful friends of the governor can set up their own natural gas microgrids while the rest of us face rising costs and decreased reliability from so-called “renewables.” Don’t get me wrong, having these data centers come to New Mexico is an economic boon.
But it comes tempered with massive subsidies including a 30-year property tax exemption and up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds. New Mexico is ideally suited as a destination for these data centers with its favorable climate and lack of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. We shouldn’t be giving away such massive subsidies.
Welcoming the data center boom to New Mexico better than rejecting them and pushing them to locate in other states. There is no way to avoid CO2 emissions whether they happen here or somewhere else. But, there are questions about both the electricity demand and subsidies that must be addressed as New Mexico’s data center boom begins.
What will the Legislature, radical environmental groups, and future governors of our state do to hinder (or help) bring these data centers to our State? That is an open question that depends heavily on upcoming statewide elections. It is important that New Mexicans understand and appreciate these complicated issues.
Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility
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