PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Iberdrola Renewables announced today that it has sold 50 megawatts (MW) from its Manzana Wind Power Project – now under construction in California – to the City of Santa Clara’s Silicon Valley Power (SVP), a repeat customer for Iberdrola Renewables.
The contract will provide 50 MW to Santa Clara for a term of 20 years beginning upon the commercial operation of the facility, expected in the fourth quarter of 2012. Iberdrola Renewables owns the Manzana Wind Power Project in Kern County, California, in the wind-rich Tehachapi area near the town of Rosamond. The project includes 126 General Electric (“GE”) SLE 1.5-MW wind turbines, a 34.5kV collector system, an operations and maintenance building, a new collector substation and a 220kV five-mile gen-tie line to interconnect the project to the new Whirlwind 220kV substation that is being constructed by Southern California Edison.
"We are delighted to continue to help this important customer meet its renewable portfolio goals," said Martin Mugica, executive vice president of Iberdrola Renewables. "Our Manzana project will provide Santa Clara with clean, cost-competitive, renewable energy while putting Californians to work.”
"The new wind power purchase puts SVP ahead of schedule in meeting the requirements of California’s renewable energy mandate and supports our customers’ environmental stewardship expectations," said Larry Owens, Silicon Valley Power’s manager of customer services.
Ninety of the GE turbine “nacelles” used for the project – those Winnebago-sized components on top of the tower that house the generators, gearboxes, drive trains and brake assemblies – were manufactured less than an hour’s drive from the Manzana site at GE’s Tehachapi factory. The rest were manufactured in Florida. The turbine towers were delivered through the Port of San Diego.
The 50-MW purchase is estimated to provide clean, renewable electricity to about 20,000 typical Santa Clara homes. The total project will provide up to 189 MW of energy, representing a reduction in green house gas emissions comparable to removing more than 21,500 cars off of California’s roads for one year. Wind power also serves as a hedge against volatile fossil fuel prices and has proven to be a reliable, low-cost source of energy.
About three-quarters of the turbines at the project have been erected and construction of the operations and maintenance building as well as substation, collector system and other construction is well underway. Manzana is expected to create up to 290 construction jobs and 12 Iberdrola Renewables permanent operations and maintenance staff with approximately another eight to nine contractors during the warranty period.
The Manzana project will 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 Kern County.
Construction is being managed by Avon, Minn.-based Blattner Energy, with the majority of subcontracted work performed by California companies, including:
- Conco Pumping, Fontana – Concrete pumping
- System 3 Inc., Carmichael – Tower wiring & grounding
- RMR Equipment Rental, Castaic – Water trucks
- CSI Contractors Inc., Bakersfield – O&M building
- Soils Engineering, Bakersfield – Survey services
- Earth Systems, Palmdale – Inspection & materials testing
- PAR Electrical Contractors, Fontana – Gen-tie line and 220kV substation construction
- Rosendin Electric Inc., San Jose – 34.5kV Collector systems
- Granite Construction, Lancaster – Road improvements
- MCM Construction, North Highlands – Aqueduct bridges
More than 70 percent of the nacelles for the project turbines are being manufactured at General Electric manufacturing facilities in Tehachapi. Other California parts, materials and equipment providers include:
- General Electric, Carson – Down tower assemblies
- Bragg Crane Service, Mojave – Off-site storage crane service
- Pacific Coast Steel, San Bernardino – Rebar fabrication
- Holliday Readymix, Mojave – Concrete supply
- Granite Construction, Lancaster – Aggregate supply
Iberdrola Renewables, Inc. is headquartered in Portland, Ore., with more than 850 employees and approximately 5,000 MW of renewable energy in its fleet. www.iberdrolarenewables.us.
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