Pattern Energy acquires 3-GW New Mexico-Arizona wind power link

July 18 (Renewables Now) – US renewables developer Sample Power LP introduced on Monday that it has acquired the SunZia Transmission venture, a proposed 550-mile (885.1 km) bi-directional high-voltage direct present (HVDC) line that may transport some 3 GW of wind energy from New Mexico to Arizona.

SouthWestern Energy Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of US building engineering firm MMR Group, bought the venture for an undisclosed sum, after engaged on it for over a decade.

Sample Power stated it might launch full building of the SunZia Transmission line subsequent 12 months, and finalise the venture in 2025. It expects to safe ultimate venture approvals, together with the Bureau of Land Administration file of determination, in April 2023.

Sample Power, which was beforehand awarded the complete capability on the 525-kV transmission line, will use it to hold energy from the 3-GW-plus SunZia Wind venture, a gaggle of wind farms it’s growing in New Mexico. The corporate plans to start out constructing the wind farms in 2023 and fee them in early 2026, it stated.

Collectively, the SunZia Transmission and the SunZia Wind initiatives will characterize an funding of over USD 8 billion (EUR 7.88bn) and greater than 2,000 jobs at peak building.

SunZia Transmission and Sample Power partnered with the New Mexico Renewable Power Transmission Authority (RETA) on the venture improvement. RETA beforehand labored with Sample Power on the 155-mile Western Spirit Transmission line in New Mexico, which they energised in December 2021.

“SunZia Transmission will create a clear energy superhighway for tens of millions of Individuals by opening entry to very large, largely-untapped wind vitality sources in New Mexico,” commented Mike Garland, CEO of Sample Power.

“This revolutionary transmission line would be the conduit for the most important wind venture in U.S. historical past, our 3,000+ MW SunZia Wind facility. We’re creating and implementing the most important clear vitality infrastructure venture in American historical past, demonstrating the huge potential of New Mexico’s wind energy and the areas’ skill to carry giant interstate infrastructure to actuality,” Garland added.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.986)

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