New Mexico Wind Energy Center Opens

October 1, 2003 [SolarAccess.com] New Mexico’s most ambitious wind farm, called the New Mexico Wind Energy Center, recently started producing electricity for the Public Service Company of New Mexico, the state’s largest electric and gas utility. The center, the world’s third-largest wind generation project, will officially be dedicated today. Located 170 miles southeast of Albuquerque and 20 miles northeast of Fort Sumner, the wind center sits on 9,600 acres of private and state-owned land. The center consists of 136 turbine towers, each measuring 210 feet in height with turbine blades measuring 110 feet. It will have a peak output of about 200 MW of electricity, or about 1.5 MW per turbine. The turbines require 8 mph winds to produce electricity and will continue to produce electricity in winds up to 55 mph. The center is expected to produce enough electricity to supply 94,000 average-sized New Mexico homes. Florida-based FPL Energy owns and manages the Wind Energy Center; PNM will purchase all of its output.