Wind farm near Snowflake will double in size

Courtesy photo of Dry Lake 1

Phoenix, March 18 - Salt River Project (SRP) and Iberdrola Renewables today announced that SRP has agreed to purchase the entire output of Phase 2 of the Dry Lake Wind Power Project in northern Arizona for a 20-year term.

When permitted, the Dry Lake 2 Wind Project will be located approximately seven miles northwest of Snowflake on a combination of private and state lands. The project will be just west of Arizona State Highway 77 three miles east of Dry Lake 1, south of Holbrook and the I-40 corridor.

"SRP has greatly enjoyed working with Iberdrola Renewables at Dry Lake 1, Arizona's first commercial-sized wind energy project," said SRP General Manager Richard Silverman. "Adding additional wind energy to our resource mix will provide more clean energy for our customers while at the same time helping to increase the overall renewable energy supply in Arizona."

Dry Lake's Phase 2 will use up to 31 Suzlon wind turbines and is expected to generate up to 65 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Typically, a wind farm of this size will provide clean, renewable electricity to more than 9,100 typical homes in SRP's service territory. The estimated environmental benefits of the project will result in the annual offset of more than 176 million pounds of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to removing 15,000 cars from the road.

"We are very pleased to enter this second power purchase agreement with SRP and to be permitting a second phase of the Dry Lake Project," said Martin Mugica, executive vice president for Iberdrola Renewables. "We are happy to help meet Arizona's growing demand for electricity -- especially clean, renewable, home grown power."

The nine- to 12-month construction period of Dry Lake 2 is expected to create construction and engineering jobs for as many as 200 workers, and approximately five permanent operations and maintenance staff.

Like Dry Lake 1, the Dry Lake 2 project would support the local economy with property tax payments expected to be in the millions of dollars over the life of the project. The property taxes will support schools, public health, fire, library and other necessary services in Navajo County.

Iberdrola Renewables, Inc., headquartered in Portland, Oregon, has installed more than 3,500 MW of wind power in the United States. It is part of Iberdrola Renovables, the largest provider of wind power in the world [Source: New Energy Finance], with more than 10,000 MW in operation in 23 countries. Iberdrola Renewables employs more than 830 people in the U.S.

SRP is the third-largest public power utility in the country and serves more than 935,000 electric customers in the Phoenix metropolitan area through a variety of resources including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectricity.