Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM): In 2002, PNM contracted to buy all of the output of a 204MW wind farm, which was subsequently constructed near Fort Sumner, New Mexico by FPL Energy (which owns and operates the facility). PNM is selling power from this project in their "Sky Blue" green power program, and will also use this power to satisfy their requirements under New Mexico's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).

For complete information on this project, including a slideshow, see PNM's webpages at http://www.pnm.com/customers/sky_blue.htm

Also, see the "First Peak" virtual tour of this facility created by CCAE's former chair, Ben Luce, at http://www.nmsea.org/Current_Events/FPL_PNM_Project_May_03.htm

Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS): SPS, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, first developed three 660 kilowatt turbines near Clovis, New Mexico. DOE agreed to purchase much of the power from the first turbine, triggering the building of the second and third turbines. The utility then signed a contract to purchase the output from an 80 megawatt farm at Caprock Mesa to satisfy RPS requirements, and will soon be buying power from another 120 megawatt facility at Alida New Mexico, apparently just to offset natural gas-fired electricity.

History of SPS's first turbine: SPS agreed to a 15-year deal with wind power supplier Cielo Wind Power, LLC, of Austin, Tex., to buy electricity generated from the first turbine. The first generator is a Danish-made Vestas wind turbine, with a tubular tower reaching 230 feet, and featuring blades 80-feet long. The wind farm developer Cielo (which means "sky" in Spanish), and turbine manufacturer Vestas constructed the $1 million project four miles east of Clovis in southern New Mexico.

Tri-State: Tri-state rural electric co-op has recently signed a contract for new wind farm in New Mexico.

Customer owned utility scale wind: Several projects for single wind turbines are under development, one at SunLand Peanuts near Portales, and another at MesaLands Community College, which is also in the process of developing a wind power training program.