$11 billion in financing! The largest clean energy project in U.S. history is in full swing

Pattern Energy Group, a U.S.-based renewable energy developer, has announced that the largest wind power project in the Western Hemisphere will begin construction in full swing and has received $11 billion in financing.

The project is called SunZia, and its two sub-projects are: the SunZia Wind wind farm, and the extensive transportation infrastructure needed to transport energy to end users, known as SunZia transmission.

SunZia Wind is reported to provide 6,500 megawatts of clean electricity to New Mexico. SunZia transmission is a 550-mile±525 kilovolt HVDC transmission line capable of delivering 3,000 megawatts of clean energy across central New Mexico and south-central Arizona.

A study by the U.S. Department of Energy highlights the importance of building new transmission capacity in the central region of the country. "There is a lot of potential for low-cost power generation in the central U.S., and it is cost-effective for neighboring regions to capture power by adding transmission facilities. ”

The SunZia project, which took more than 17 years to be approved and construction to begin, highlights the difficulty of building transmission lines in the United States.

Grid experts say the U.S. needs to build a massive transmission system to transmit the energy generated by wind and solar farms, but regulators, local landowners and environmentalists could slow or even stop development.

In fact, the SunZia project began construction in May 2023, but was halted again in November 2023 as landowners protested the project and were concerned about its impact on religious and cultural sites.

Pattern Energy claims that the project will meet the energy needs of more than 3 million Americans. According to Electrek, more than 2,000 new jobs are expected to be created, generating economic benefits of $20.5 billion.

It is also an important step for the Biden administration to accelerate the power sector's transition to renewable energy. U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged to reduce total U.S. carbon emissions by 52% by 2030 and build a carbon-free power sector by 2035.

"We hope that the successful financing of the largest clean energy infrastructure project in U.S. history will serve as a model for other ambitious renewable infrastructure initiatives needed to accelerate our transition to a carbon-free future," said Hunter Armistead, CEO of Pattern Energy. ”

Daniel Elkort, the company's executive vice president, said: "This significant financing is a testament to our partners' commitment to the renewable energy sector and Pattern. Both the scale and financing of the SunZia project show that the renewable energy sector is no less attractive to capital than the traditional power sector. ”

In 2020, Pattern Energy Group acquired Orion Wind Power Resources' wind development rights for up to 1GW of Clines Corners in New Mexico, USA, for an undisclosed price. The project will build a 352MW Western Spirit wind power project on 49,000 hectares of land in Torrance and Guadalupe counties. Construction of the Western Spirit transmission line, owned by the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority and co-developed by Patten Energy, is scheduled to begin in 2020. Currently, Pattern Energy has more than 4GW of wind power capacity under development in New Mexico.