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News Releases
12/19/2003
Texico Wind Ranch® adds two turbines, triples energy output
Xcel Energy offers the electricity in N.M. customer choice-driven program
AMARILLO, TEXAS - Cielo Wind Power, LLC, has added two 660-kilowatt wind turbines to the Texico Wind Ranch® in eastern Curry County, N.M., tripling the output of the first commercial-scale wind generation facility in New Mexico, which Cielo developed and brought on line in June 1999.
Xcel Energy buys all of the power from the Wind Ranch® for resale to its New Mexico Windsource® customers. Windsource® customers choose to pay a small premium for electric service to help “sponsor” generation of electricity from wind, a renewable and clean resource.
“Xcel has shown real leadership in renewable energy,” Cielo Wind Power President Walter Hornaday said. “The Texico expansion, Xcel’s third major wind power development in eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle in the past five years, is being built to help meet the demand for this elective program.”
Windsource®, available to Xcel Energy customers in New Mexico, Colorado and Minnesota, is the largest customer preference-driven wind energy program in the united states. For more information about Windsource® call 1-800-824-1688 or go to the web site www.xcelenergy.com.
The two new turbines will generate 1.32 megawatts of electricity, enough for the average annual electricity needs of about 450 homes. The turbines will sit on 213-feet tall towers-comparable to 21-story buildings. Each generator will be driven by three blades, each about 75 feet long
“These two turbines are the same efficient design as the original V47 turbine we installed at texico in 1999,” Hornaday said. “The Vestas V47 turbine was chosen because it is one of the most reliable wind turbines ever built for the u.s. market and is the most common turbine now running in the u.s. to have a single turbine model that was in production for four years running is not very common in the wind industry and demonstrates the exceptional quality of the turbine.”
The Texico Wind Ranch® turbines are located in a fallow corner of circle-irrigated farmland, so the wind ranch® takes no land out of farming production. The power lines delivering wind energy to Xcel Energy are buried underground; tractors can continue to till the land just as they did before the turbines were installed. To help minimize their impact on wildlife, the turbines use a sophisticated type of FAA lights and are painted with UV-reflective paint.
“Cielo Wind Power is delighted to bring additional clean, renewable energy to the citizens of New Mexico,” said Hornaday. “We are also pleased that a large part of the construction work at the site was performed by New Mexico and Texas contractors who are served by Xcel Energy. Cielo always tries to maximize the amount of work we do with local contractors and suppliers. We look forward to continuing to work with Xcel and other utilities to bring additional wind power to New Mexico in the future.”
Xcel Energy currently buys wind power from another Cielo wind power development, the 80-megawatt White Deer Wind Park in Carson County, Texas. The companies also have announced plans for another 80-megawatt facility, the Caprock Wind Ranch®, scheduled to be constructed next year southeast of Tucumcari, N.M., in Quay County.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, through its operating company Southwestern Public Service Company, serves approximately one million customers in a 52,000-square-mile area comprised of the South Plains and Panhandle of Texas, eastern New Mexico, the Oklahoma Panhandle and southwestern Kansas.
Cielo Wind Power, LLC, develops, maintains and assists with the construction of utility-grade wind power projects. With field offices in Fluvanna, McCamey, and White Deer, Austin-based Cielo Wind Power is the largest wind developer in the southwest and has the largest development staff dedicated solely to cost-effective and environmentally responsible wind project development. Cielo Wind Power is a privately held company. For more information about Cielo, go to www.cielowind.com.
Note: photos available. Contact Josh Framel.
For more information:
Josh Framel, Cielo Wind Power
512/440-0305, jframel@cielowind.com
Bill Crenshaw, Xcel Energy Communications
806/378-2120; bill.crenshaw@xcelenergy.com
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