Construction on the Roosevelt Wind Project and Milo Wind Project has begun, according to Jeff Keppert, associate project developer with EDF Renewable Energy.
Keppert gave an update on the project to Portales business leaders Friday at the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Keppert gave some background on EDF Renewable Energy, which owns the projects, saying that EDF Renewable Energy is the North American Subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles which operates in 18 countries and whose parent company EDF is one of the largest utilities in the world, providing over 20 percent of the European Union’s electricity.
He added that his corporation is also involved in biomass and biogas projects and is now pursuing pumped water storage projects and battery storage projects.
Keppert told chamber members wind energy tax credits are likely going to go away in the near future.
“We hope we don’t have to carry on without a wind energy production tax credit”
Keppert listed the following as wind energy facts that “weren’t always the case”:
• It’s affordable — The average price of U.S. wind power declined by 58 percent from 2009 to 2013.
•U.S. wind power is increasingly cost-competitive with all other forms of electric generation, including shale gas at today’s unsustainably low prices.
•Improved technology — Taller towers, longer blades, improved gearboxes and over 30 years of experience in siting wind turbines to maximize their power output have helped drive down costs.
Keppert also mentioned negative reputations with wind energy being improved, many people believed that wind turbines more than any other energy source are the main source of bird mortality.
He said that may have been the case in the early 1980s, but now, wind turbines are only responsible for 2 percent of Eagle mortalities, due to improved technology, the increased size of the blades which move significantly slower and because wind farms are typically located in places where eagle observations are low in general. New technology in the horizon may further improve the landscape, new technology includes potentially placing lights and sound devices which are believed to repel eagles and raptors away, further testing is being conducted.
He said the amount of wind in Eastern New Mexico as well as how rural the region is are huge benefits for any wind energy project.
Keppert said it took EDF four years minimum to get to the construction phase of a project in California due to the many constraints involved with California projects, whereas the Roosevelt County projects have been relatively streamlined in comparison.
He said the Roosevelt County projects were not opposed by Canon Air Force Base, nor the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).
He said the project also does not endanger the Lesser Prairie Chicken.as the projects are located far away from Leks where they mate.
He said construction on the wind turbine pads has already begun and will be completed in June, and the 150 turbines for the two projects, which stand approximately 440 feet tall (each blade is approximately 160 feet long), will begin arriving in August.
Each 2-megawatt turbine will produce enough electricity to power 1,000 homes per year.
Keppert said the other positives of the project are local schools receiving $700,000 in revenue from Industrial Revenue Bonds secured for the project, and EDF will be widening and improving State and some county roads as part of their agreement with the State and Roosevelt County.
“These wind turbines will be turning about 50 percent of the time, which is substantially more than any other wind energy project I’ve worked on,” Keppert said. “You’ve just got great wind here.”
He said they hope to have the project completed by the end of the year, adding that sometime in 2015, EDF will have a blade-signing ceremony in or around the project area to celebrate the project.
