Western Wind Energy began construction last week on wind turbines on land behind Nucor Steel on Route 66, southeast of Kingman, Ariz., last week, reported the Kingman Daily Miner.
The turbines’ tall columns can be seen from the top of El Trovatore Hill. It’s a combined solar and wind farm, and its the second such project in Arizona.
The company hopes to complete the project by July, Boyd said. Once completed, it will produce about 10-megawatts of power, enough to power around 4,000 homes, that will be transferred onto UniSource Energy’s grid, Boyd said. The company signed a 20-year agreement with UniSource in October 2009.
If the project the project is successful and UniSource needs additional energy, Western Wind might purchase additional land to the east of the existing site and add another five wind turbines to the project, Boyd said.
It wouldn’t be surprising if other energy companies build solar and wind farms around the Kingman area. Between its blustery mountain ranges and desert sun, it’s well-suited for both.
Nowadays, there are no shortages of wind turbines near the Mother Road. Weatherford, Okla.; Vega, Texas; Tucumcari, N.M.; San Jon, N.M.; and other places I’ve forgotten.
UPDATE 5/16/2011: Here’s another report about the wind farm by the Havasu News-Herald.
The project’s five 1.8-megawatt turbines —and the site’s half-megawatt photovoltaic solar system — are expected to begin producing an average of 10.5 megawatts of power later this year.
The wind farm is on 864 acres, which is a portion of a larger 110,000-acre parcel owned by Western Wind. There is the possibility of erecting an additional five more turbines on the site, Tepp said.