ACCIONA Plans 2nd Texas Wind Farm

By Anca Gagiuc

ACCIONA Energia will build its second wind farm in Texas—the company’s ninth in the U.S. The new 145-megawatt Palmas Altas wind park will be located in Cameron County, near the 93-megawatt San Roman wind farm ACCIONA developed in 2016.

Palmas Altas will consist of 46 wind turbines of Nordex technology—model AW125/3150 with a rotor diameter of 410 feet, mounted on a 287-foot steel tower—and will produce around 524 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually. This is the equivalent of powering about 43,000 U.S. households and offset the emission of 503,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Long-term benefits

The wind project will require approximately 170 people at the peak of construction and, upon completion, will be staffed by a 10-person operations team. Over its 25-year lifespan, Palmas Altas is expected to generate $40 million in local tax revenue, as well as more than $44 million in lease payments to local landowners. The energy it will produce will be sold in the ERCOT-South Texas wholesale market.

“We are proud to undertake a new wind power project that consolidates the reactivation of our investment activity in the U.S. and confirms our commitment to grow in a controlled and profitable manner in a market that continues to offer very interesting opportunities for the renewables sector,” Rafael Esteban, CEO of ACCIONA Energy USA Global LLC, said in prepared remarks.

This new Texas wind project is estimated to cost about $200 million and grid connection is planned for November 2019. With the addition of Palmas Altas, the company’s U.S. wind capacity increases to 866 megawatts: ACCIONA has three wind projects in Oklahoma (329 MW), two in the Dakotas (192 MW), one in Illinois (101 MW) and one in Iowa (6 MW). In addition, it has a 64-megawatt concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the Nevada desert.

Video courtesy of ACCIONA