A California-based company announced Monday it received several key approvals that will allow construction to begin next year on a 550-mile interstate transmission line project.
The New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission gave two separate unanimous approvals to the SunZia Wind Project. Those approvals, combined with recent approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission, pave the way for construction to begin on the SunZia Transmission project.
Pending approvals from federal agencies including the Bureau of Land Management and local jurisdictions, Pattern Energy Group LP plans to begin construction on the project in mid-2023.
We are nearing completion of all remaining state and local permits in New Mexico and expect to receive those in the first quarter of 2023," said Pattern Energy Group spokesperson Matt Dallas.
San Francisco-based Pattern Energy acquired the project from SouthWestern Power Group, a July news release said. As part of the deal, SouthWestern Power Group will maintain ownership of a second transmission line, named the El Rio Sol Transmission line, according to the release.
Pattern Energy will work with the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority to develop the transmission line project. The bi-directional transmission line will connect south-central Arizona to central New Mexico and the SunZia wind farm.
Under development by Pattern Energy, the wind farm in New Mexico's Lincoln, Torrance and San Miguel counties is expected to generate more than 3,000 megawatts and use the SunZia transmission line to provide renewable electricity for 3 million people each year, according to the company.
The company expects to complete and begin operating the SunZia Transmission line in 2025, and the SunZia wind farm in early 2026.
"SunZia is proof that New Mexico is leading the charge in the clean energy transition," Sen. Martin Heinrich said in a prepared statement. "Once completed, this project will result in the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere, producing thousands of construction jobs and delivering billions in private capital investments that will ignite rural economic development across the Southwest."
The SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind projects will create more than 2,000 construction jobs during peak construction. Once operational, up to 150 permanent staff will operate and maintain the projects.
Pattern Energy's operational portfolio includes 35 renewable energy facilities. Six of those are New Mexico wind farms that total about 1,595 megawatts. But the SunZia wind farm will be the company's seventh and largest wind farm in the state. It will bring total capacity in New Mexico to more than 4,500 megawatts of wind power.
Together, the SunZia transmission line and the SunZia Wind project will amount to an investment of more than $8 billion, according to Pattern Energy. Both projects are privately funded, according to the company.
Pattern Energy and the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority previously partnered to build the Western Spirit Transmission line which delivers power from four wind farms. In December, Public Service Company of New Mexico purchased the 155-mile transmission line to deliver electricity generated from Pattern's Western Spirit Wind facilities in central New Mexico to the electric grid managed by PNM near Albuquerque.
The Western Spirit Wind farm totals more than 1,050 megawatts of clean power capacity, or enough to meet the electricity needs of 900,000 Americans each year, the company said.
