Nevada Test Site will soon be home to state’s first wind farm

Lisa Snedeker

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000 | 9:46 a.m.

The Nevada Test Site soon will be home to the state's first wind farm thanks to an easement making 664 of the nation's former atomic proving ground available to a private contractor.

The three-phase project announced Wednesday could include more than 500 wind turbine generators with a combined capacity of more than 260 megawatts, or enough power to supply a community of 85,000.

"Any project of this nature is always contingent on the environmental process, which should be completed by March," said Tim Carlson, president and CEO of NTS Development Corp.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who was instrumental in obtaining the easement, said the test site's alternative energy agenda "will enhance the capabilities that support the defense of our nation."

NTS Development Corp., which received the easement, works with the Department of Energy to promote new technology in Nevada. NTS will work with other companies - MNS, a partnership between M&N Wind Power and Siemens - to begin ordering equipment that is expected to bring an additional source of electricity to southern Nevada, Carlson said.

"The first phase of the wind turbines will be generating energy by this time next year," he said.

The first phase, that carries a $125 million price tag, will consist of 140 turbines that can generate 85 megawatts at peak capacity for some of the nation's fastest-growing communities, including Las Vegas.

A kilowatt hour is the rate at which electricity, measured in watts, is consumed. A megawatt equals 1,000 kilowatts or 1 million watts. An average family of four uses 1,100 kilowatt hours each month, according to Nevada Power Co.

Similar to those operating near Palm Springs, Calif., the wind farm will use turbines that employ a three-bladed, horizontal axis design with an 80-foot radius and are mounted on 175-foot steel towers. Power from the generators will be fed via underground cables to transformers near the base of each tower.

The former home of nuclear weapons tests, the Nevada Test Site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas is now an environmental research park that serves as an outdoor laboratory for conducting research on the compatibility of the environment with energy technology.

"The NTS is the perfect place for siting a wind farm," said NTS Development's Chairman Joe Brown. "The power infrastructure is in place and the technologies that supported our nation's defense can be utilized to support this emerging industry, one that creates high value jobs."

The wind farm could translate into as many as 200 construction jobs and more than $80 million to the southern Nevada economy over the next three to five years of initial construction, said Nancy Harkess, Energy Department spokeswoman.

Once complete, the wind farm could require a staff of as many as 30 to maintain over the next 35 years.

The signing of the easement demonstrates NTS Development and the Energy Department are working together and one benefit is that the effects of downsizing at the test site are being eased, said Kathleen Carlson, manager of DOE's Nevada operations.

"This project could become a model for other federal facilities across the nation," said Gen. John Gordon, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency responsible for the test site.