Arizona wind-power deal gains key approval

KINGMAN, Ariz. — Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued a key approval Friday for a plan to harvest the wind that blows across northwest Arizona to generate power for as many as 175,000 homes.

Jewell approved the use of nearly 38,000 acres of public land for a wind farm that BP Wind Energy proposes to build and operate about 40 miles northwest of Kingman.

BP said up to 400 jobs would be created during construction.

The company intends to invest up to $1 billion to build as many as 243 turbines to generate up to 500 megawatts of electricity. Permit applications were submitted beginning four years ago.

“These are exactly the kind of responsible steps that we need to take to expand homegrown, clean energy on our public lands and cut carbon pollution that affects public health,” Jewell said.

Site development will not begin until the company secures agreements for the sale of power to be generated.

“BP Wind Energy is hard at work seeking to secure a purchaser for the power,” said BP spokesman Matthew Hartwig.

While a number of other major renewable energy projects proposed in the Southwest have collapsed, most recently the ENN Energy proposal in Laughlin, Mohave County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Watson said he is confident that BP has the resources and ability to succeed in Arizona.

“I’m sure they wouldn’t have invested that type of money without having good assurance that they would have an opportunity to sell the power,” Watson said. “I don’t have any doubt that they’ve done all that is necessary to make sure this gets done.”

Hartwig said BP late last year completed construction of the largest single-phase construction wind farm in America. The Flat Ridge 2 project in Kansas uses 294 turbines to generate 470 megawatts.