Nambé pueblo plans wind farm

Proposed facility would be state's largest

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

12/19/2007 - 12/20/07

Nambé Pueblo and a new alternative-energy company are teaming up to explore construction of the largest-capacity wind-energy farm in the state and the largest on tribal land in the nation.

If the wind farm becomes reality, it will consist of 99 towers capable of producing up to 300 megawatts of electricity, enough to regularly power 14,000 homes and businesses a year. Each wind tower would be 300 feet tall, with three-blade turbines producing 3.5 megawatts each. At the state's largest wind farm, the New Mexico Wind Energy Center near Fort Sumner, 136 turbines produce up to 200 megawatts of power, all purchased by the Public Service Company of New Mexico.

The proposed wind farm would let Nambé Pueblo supply its own members and sell the excess to power companies. A land lease and royalties from the project would create a steady source of nongaming revenue, according to tribal and company officials.

"I think it is a good project," said Nambé Pueblo Council member Herbert Yates. "I just don't know if we have enough wind to make it work. I'd like to look at solar as well."

Green Energy Wind LLC, a 2-month-old Northern New Mexico company that still doesn't have a Web site, hopes to build the wind farm. Company partner and development director Henry Herman, a former technology director at Pojoaque Valley Schools, said the project is one of several wind farms the company intends to construct in New Mexico and nearby states. He said interest in wind energy is increasing rapidly. "We can barely keep up," Herman said.

The pueblo's council has approved the construction of a 197-foot-tall tower by Green Energy Wind to gather data on wind speeds and consistency over the next year. The tower will house six anemometers with little propellers that measure wind speed. The devices will transfer the data to a computer every 10 minutes, Herman said, and he'll use the data to build a case for the wind farm. He said preliminary data indicate the winds across the pueblo average more than 13-15 mph, which the industry classifies as low-speed Class 4 winds.

A minimum annual average of 12 mph, or Class 3 winds, is needed for investors to take an interest in a wind farm, he said.

The proposed Nambé Pueblo wind farm is part of the pueblo's recent moves to diversify and boost its economic base. In September, the pueblo broke ground for a biofuels center and convenience store off U.S. 84/285. Pueblo officials also have talked about plans for a bottled water company and a solar-energy farm.

Andrew Martinez, project manager for the Nambé Pueblo Housing Entity, is excited about the wind farm's role in one of the entity's latest plans — a 43-lot subdivision that will feature energy-efficient "green" homes. Creating the pueblo's own renewable power with excess energy to sell is a win-win situation, he said. "If this works, this community could go without ever having another utility bill," Martinez said.

The Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative is one of the power companies in discussion with the pueblo and Green Energy Wind about buying the electricity, according to cooperative general manager Jerry Mascareñas. Currently, the cooperative buys bulk power from Tri-State Generation and Transmission in Denver for its 30,000 customers stretching from Española to Cuba, Mascareñas said. He said 42 of the co-op's residential customers pay extra for "green" energy from renewable sources, and he expects the number to increase.

Green Energy Wind's managing director, Gary P. Miller, who is in charge of drumming up investors, said if the wind speeds make the project viable, he'll need to find $300 million to $700 million in capital for the Nambé wind farm. He said he is working with investment banks on the project.

The partners say federal tax credits are driving the interest in wind farms. Commercial wind-power companies qualify for a tax credit on produced energy and depreciation that lets them deduct most of the cost of building a wind farm for five to 10 years. Miller said investment interest in wind power has "exploded" in the last six months, largely because of the tax incentives.

Michael McDiarmid, head of the wind power program for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, said the four commercial wind-energy farms in the state can produce a total of 497 megawatts when operating at full capacity. A 110-megawatt wind farm is planned on Aragonne Mesa southeast of Albuquerque.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.



BY THE NUMBERS

Proposed Nambé Pueblo wind farm

• 99 -- number of towers
• 300 -- megawatts of generating capacity
• 300 -- height of each tower, in feet
• 144 -- length of turbine blades, in feet
• 300 to 700 -- project cost, in millions of dollars