As per the plan, the Minneapolis-based electric utility, which serves eight Western and Midwestern states, will build and own the 478MW Hale wind project in Texas and the 522MW Sagamore wind project in New Mexico.
Xcel Energy had got the approval for the new wind facilities from New Mexico regulators in March.
The Hale and Sagamore wind farms are anticipated to save nearly $2.8bn for the customers in the states of Texas and New Mecico over a 30-year period. The wind farms will be built with an investment of $1.6bn.
Xcel Energy – New Mexico, Texas president David Hudson said: “The new wind farms will help power a growing regional economy with clean energy while providing the lowest-cost generating resource on our system.
“Not only will these wind farms save customers money, but they’ll also preserve precious water resources and spur regional economic activity.”
Xcel Energy plans to begin construction on the Hale wind project in Hale County, near Plainview in June, while it will break ground on the Sagamore wind project in Roosevelt County near Portales in 2019. The two wind farms will be build by Wanzek Construction.
Expected to provide power to nearly 360,000 homes, the two wind farms will involve 600 people for their construction and 40-50 full-time employees for operations. Wanzek Construction has given the contract by Xcel Energy to build the two wind farms.
The two new wind farms in Texas and New Mexico are part of Xcel Energy’s plans to add 3,380MW of new wind generation across seven states in the US. Under the plan announced in March 2017, the utility had listed out 11 new wind farms, which includes the Hale and Sagamore wind farms.
