PLAINVIEW, Texas (AP) – Officials with a utility building a 239-turbine wind farm in the Texas Panhandle say more than half of the concrete foundations have been poured.
Xcel Energy on Thursday updated the Hale Wind Project, meant to generate electricity for Texas and New Mexico. An Xcel statement says turbines and blades are being delivered to the site southeast of Plainview, in Hale County.
Trenching has begun for 190 miles (305.76 kilometers) of underground cable to collect the 478-megawatts of electricity generated by turbines.
Regulators in New Mexico and Texas earlier this year approved the overall $1.6 billion plan. Xcel in July announced the completed purchase of the project from Florida NextEra Energy Resources.
Commercial operations should begin by mid-2019.
Minneapolis-based Xcel also plans a 522-megawatt wind farm complex near Portales, New Mexico.
