Xcel Energy sets regional wind energy records

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Xcel Energy announced it has set a new regional wind energy record.

According to a news release, the new Sagamore Wind Project in New Mexico’s strong production boosted Xcel’s wind energy to account for more than half the region’s electricity supply in March and reached a new hourly peak production of more than 86% of the supply on April 11.

“Wind energy is a major component in the generating resources that produce clean, low-cost energy for a growing economy,” said David Hudson, president of Xcel Energy New Mexico and Texas. “The integration of such a large amount of wind energy was not possible two decades ago, but investments in our transmission grid have enabled us to take on more of these valuable energy resources for the benefit of our customers across our Texas-New Mexico region.”

In the last two years, Xcel has added 1,000 megawatts of new wind generation from facilities the company built and owns. Those include the Hale Wind Project near Plainview and the Sagamore facility near Portales.

The two facilities generate enough power together to power 378,000 typical homes.

“We invested close to $2 billion in Hale and Sagamore, which had large positive impacts on the rural economies in their respective areas,” said Hudson. “These facilities will continue to enrich the rural economy by boosting tax revenues to counties and school districts and paying production royalties to farmers and ranchers. In turn, our customers benefit from 100% of the federal production tax credits associated with this production and by lower fuel costs since the fuel for wind turbines is free of charge.”

Xcel Energy’s regional energy mix was 51.1% wind energy in March, the highest monthly wind numbers recorded so far.

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