SunZia, a massive wind power and transmission line project in the US Southwest, is now ready to start construction.

SunZia is made up of SunZia Wind and SunZia Transmission.

SunZia Wind is the largest wind project in the Western Hemisphere. The 3,500-megawatt (MW) wind farm sprawls across New Mexico’s counties of Torrance, Lincoln, and San Miguel.

SunZia Transmission is a 550-mile ± 525 kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line between central New Mexico and south-central Arizona. It has the capacity to transport 3,000 MW of clean energy.

SunZia Transmission will enable SunZia Wind to supply customers in Arizona and California during early evening hours when demand is high but the available renewable energy supply is low. It’s going to use the same corridor as the Western Spirit Transmission Line:

SunZia’s California-based renewable energy developer Pattern Energy Group said today that it’s selected Hitachi Energy and Quanta Services as its engineering, procurement, and construction contractors to build the project.

Hitachi Energy, which has delivered more than half of the HVDC projects in North America, will supply the HVDC converter stations as well as its HVDC Light technology and MACH digital control platform for SunZia Transmission. Hitachi’s technology enables the efficient transfer and integration of huge volumes of renewable energy over long distances.

Infrastructure provider Quanta will provide a “turnkey solution” for the HVDC line, and Blattner Company, a Quanta operating company, will also provide “turnkey solutions” for SunZia Wind and its associated switchyard. That includes the installation of more than 900 turbines, 10 substations, multiple operations and maintenance facilities, and more than 100 miles of wind generation transmission lines.

Pattern says SunZia, which represents an investment of more than $5 billion, will “power the needs of more than 3 million Americans.” It is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs, has an expected economic impact of $20.5 billion, and is expected to come online in 2026.

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Photo: Pattern Energy Group

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