Hitachi Energy and Quanta Services won contracts on May 4 to design and build a 3.5-GW onshore wind energy farm in central New Mexico and a 3-GW, 550-mile transmission line from that state to Arizona to deliver its clean power and more—an estimated $8-billion project that developer Pattern Energy terms “the largest renewables development in the western hemisphere.”
The 525-kV high voltage direct current line will carry the wind energy from more than 900 turbines planned for the New Mexico project to adjacent western states. Quanta Services and its Blattner unit, acquired last year, will construct the wind farm and transmission complex, which also is set to include 10 substations, multiple O&M facilities and more than 100 miles of related transmission lines. Hitachi Energy will design and supply high voltage equipment and technology.