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  4. 1-GW Western Spirit Wind Complex

New Mexico is one of the fastest-growing states for wind energy construction, driven in part by the West’s electricity demand. Winds that blow across its blustery eastern plains tend to increase at sunset, right about when solar facilities stop operating. 

That synchronicity makes the location strategic to a more resilient energy future. And that’s where, in a little over one year, construction crews built the largest wind farm complex ever constructed on land at one time: Pattern Energy’s Western Spirit Wind.

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Location

  • New Mexico, USA

Client

  • Pattern Energy

Project Status

  • Completed 2021
Creating the unique role of a Commissioning Coordinator helped assure that the testing and commissioning activities of the dozens of contractors and subcontractors were well synchronized to meet the critical commercial operation deadline.

Massive scale

The suite of four wind farms spans nearly 120,000 acres across three New Mexico counties and generates 1,050-MW of wind energy — enough annual electricity production to support 900,000 people. The project delivers this electricity to the state’s grid and broader Western markets, including California.

In addition to the wind farms, the project involved construction of a 155-mile-long, 345-kV transmission line and two substations. The Western Spirit Switchyard (WESP) serves as the point of interconnection for the four windfarms, and the Abo Series Compensation Station regulates the line’s power flow. 

Pattern engaged our team as owner’s engineer to provide preliminary line and station design, estimating and permitting support. We also designed the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) for all four wind farms as well as the transmission system, and we were responsible for SCADA planning and coordination with Public Service of New Mexico.

Finally, we designed and coordinated a detailed energization plan, including commissioning support.

Complex commissioning

Coordinating the commissioning of four separate wind farms, two interconnections, two existing substations, a new switching station and a new reactive compensation station — all with the goal of full-capacity energization on a tight timeline — required an innovative and integrative strategy.   

We assigned a dedicated Commissioning Coordinator to refine the high-level energization plan and fill in the details. This effort involved collaboration among the wind farms’ engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, the EPC power line and station constructors, the series compensation constructor, utility contacts and Pattern’s leads.

Last-minute answers

About three weeks before the energization target for the northern leg of the transmission line, Pattern asked us to assume the SCADA programming and commissioning scope for the WESP switching station on that leg. On a typical project, this work occurs over six to nine months.

Our SCADA and Analytical Services and Testing and Energization teams coordinated their activities and drew on additional technical support from across our firm. The combined team, which had to program and commission a multitude of devices, systematically addressed the physical and programming needs of the many devices within and outside of our scope for the work. 

“Our SCADA team stayed on site for 17 straight days to move commissioning ahead,” said Darel Tracy, project manager for the line and switchyard

Success for the renewable power project required broad collaboration and agile response to coordinate the SCADA and metering systems for multiple customers. The combined effort paid off. Our Commissioning Coordinator, Jason Strebe, termed it “a SCADA miracle.”

Western Spirit’s wind power is now helping to supply sustainable energy from a mix of resources to meet customer demand.

Meet the Visioneers

As a Power and Energy Project Manager, Darel Tracy is driven to thoroughly understanding the technical requirements for electrical infrastructure, and bringing the resources, both personnel and material, to ensure safe and reliable power is available to the communities served.

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