APS and Leeward contract to bring New Mexican wind power to Grand Canyon State
PHOENIX and DALLAS – Customers of Arizona Public Service Company (APS) will soon power their homes and businesses with more clean energy. Earlier this year, APS announced a bold commitment to deliver 100% clean, carbon-free electricity to customers by 2050. By the end of 2021, APS will harness the power of Leeward Renewable Energy’s (Leeward) advanced GE wind turbine technology to help meet Arizona’s growing energy demands.
APS has entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Leeward to purchase wind energy output from Leeward’s two Aragonne Wind facilities. The PPA resulted from a September 2019 Wind Request for Proposal. This PPA enables Leeward to sell 200 megawatts of wind generation to APS over a term of 20 years through the repowering of Leeward’s existing 90-megawatt Aragonne Wind project and the construction of its 145-megawatt Aragonne Mesa Wind project. Both facilities are located within Guadalupe County, New Mexico.
Leeward and APS have a longstanding partnership. APS first purchased power from the legacy 90-megawatt Aragonne Wind farm in 2006 when the project began operating commercially. Repowering of this existing project, coupled with the new wind generation, fits squarely with APS’s efforts to advance Arizona’s clean energy future by adding new renewable resources to its energy mix and bringing customers direct cost-saving benefits through energy efficiency products and smart energy home programs.
“Renewable energy resources like this wind power are important to a diverse and increasingly clean energy mix for Arizona,” said Brad Albert, APS Vice President of Resource Management. “By working with supplier partners like Leeward, APS is advancing toward our target of having 45% of our generation portfolio in renewable energy by 2030 on the path to 100% clean energy by 2050. We are moving toward that future while continuing our focus on serving customers with reliable, affordable energy.”
This project will modernize Leeward’s existing wind assets and add significant generation capacity to its Guadalupe County, New Mexico, renewable energy complex. Together, both companies will use wind resources as a clean power solution for APS customers in Arizona.
“Leeward is pleased to partner with APS on an innovative project that will repower one of our legacy wind assets and also enable the construction of a new wind facility, bringing economic benefits to the local community,” said Andrew Flanagan, Chief Development Officer at Leeward. “We look forward to working alongside the APS team as we continue to actively develop new wind, solar and energy storage projects across the U.S.”
About APS
APS serves nearly 1.3 million homes and businesses in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties, and is a leader in delivering affordable, clean and reliable energy in the Southwest. The company is committed to serving customers with 100% clean power by 2050. As owner and operator of Palo Verde Generating Station, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free electricity, and with one of the country’s most substantial renewable energy portfolios, APS’s current energy mix is 50% clean. With headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW).
About Leeward
Leeward Renewable Energy is a growth-oriented renewable energy company that owns and operates a portfolio of 21 wind farms across nine states, with 20 in operation and one under construction, totaling approximately 2,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Leeward is actively developing new wind, solar, and energy storage projects in energy markets across the U.S. Leeward is a portfolio company of OMERS Infrastructure, an investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans with C$109 billion in net assets (as at December 31, 2019). For more information, visit www.leewardenergy.com.