as part of larger plans, san francisco-based energy company set to build in east central new mexico

Work is expected to begin later this year on the construction of a $1.5 billion wind farm complex just to the north of the town of Tajique, some 20 miles or so southeast of Albuquerque.

The project will belong to the Pattern Energy Group, which late last year announced its ownership acquisition of the Grady Wind farm in Curry County, as well as a separate facility in Ontario.

Those two acquisitions expanded Pattern’s already growing portfolio to 4.4 gigawatts of operational capacity across 28 facilities.

The Western Spirit Wind project will entail the construction of a complex that will also include a 150-mile long transmission line designed to transport roughly 1,000 megawatts of power to the existing northwestern New Mexico grid. 

Federal, state, and local permits have all been secured to build a complex that has been the subject of a series of public input meetings earlier in the decade.

The Western Spirit Wind facility is expected to become operational next year.

Pattern, which owns and operates its own facilities, is also in the process of developing the Sun Zia Transmission Project, which will see the construction of a more than 500-mile transmission line stretching from southern New Mexico to Arizona.

Federal and state approval for that project, which is planned to see construction beginning in 2022, has not yet been secured.

According to a report issued earlier this spring by the American Wind Energy Association, more than 9 gigawatts of new utility-scale power additions were built last year, making for an overall national wind power capacity of 105 gigawatts.
​
Founded in 2013, Pattern recorded assets of some $5.3 billion in 2018.

​By Garry Boulard

---