Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) and Monterey Bay Community Power (MBCP) each signed 15-year PPAs for the wind farm in Lincoln County in central New Mexico for output from a 110MW portion of the site and from a 90MW portion respectively.
Construction of Duran Mesa Wind is expected to start in late 2019 with commercial operation due to follow in late 2020. It is part of Pattern Development’s planned 2.2GW Corona Wind cluster in New Mexico, southern US.
Power from Duran Mesa will be delivered by the 830-kilometre, 500kV SunZia line and then into the California's CAISO electricity market.
The transmission lines will carry power to SVCE, which serves customers in Santa Clara on the south shore of San Francisco Bay, and MBCP, which serves customers further south.
Mike Garland, Pattern CEO, said: "It’s a very positive sign for our industry that these two important public agencies are making their first long-term wind power purchase agreements."
SVCE sources half of its energy from renewable energy and half from hydroelectric, according to its website.
Meanwhile, MBCP started delivering clean electricity in spring 2018 using existing infrastructure from Californian utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).
Pattern Development’s Corona Wind cluster consists of six wind farms: Ancho, Cowboy Mesa, Duran Mesa, Red Cloud, Tecolote, and Viento Loco. It has not decided on individual capacities or turbine suppliers for each project yet.
The developer also acquired the 1GW Mesa Canyons project in central New Mexico and the 345kV AC Western Spirit transmission line to carry power to Albuquerque in May.
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