Xcel Energy has announced that construction on the 522 MW Sagamore Wind Project in New Mexico will begin in the fourth quarter of the year.
David Hudson, president of Xcel Energy for New Mexico and Texas, reported to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission that the company completed its development phase, including grid interconnection studies, paving the way for construction to start. Upon completion in late 2020, Sagamore will be New Mexico’s single largest wind facility, says Xcel.
“Sagamore will pay for itself in the fuel cost-savings it will generate by using one of the region’s most abundant resources – the wind – to drive its generators,” Hudson says. “It will be among the cheapest generating resources on our system and will help us conserve precious groundwater and protect the environment while bringing an immense economic benefit to eastern New Mexico.”
The $900 million facility, located in eastern New Mexico in Roosevelt County, will comprise 240 Vestas wind turbines. Wanzek Construction will build out the site using the skills of an estimated 400 construction workers. Xcel also expects 20 to 30 full-time positions to be created once the project is online. Initial work at the site, which covers more than 100,000 acres, will involve the construction of roads and preparations to build the 240 foundations that will support the turbines.
Chicago-based Invenergy developed Sagamore before entering into an agreement in 2017 for Xcel Energy to acquire the project and erect the turbines. Sagamore is the largest and final component of a 1,230 MW expansion of wind energy on Xcel’s New Mexico-Texas system.
The company’s 478 MW Hale Wind Project, located near Plainview, Texas, was completed in June.
Xcel has been purchasing wind for customers in New Mexico and Texas for almost 20 years, but before Hale and Sagamore, it had never directly built or owned wind farms in the region.
Xcel has committed to an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and aims to provide 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050. This year, New Mexico adopted the Energy Transition Act, mandating 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045. With the addition of Hale and Sagamore, Xcel expects nearly half of its New Mexico and Texas electricity supply to be derived from renewable electricity, primarily wind energy, by 2023.
