WIND BOOM IN TEHACHAPI

Expansion of AWEC brings new jobs to Tehachapi
Piper Hatfield, June 15, 2011 (Tehachapi News)

"Terra-Gen Power is starting the next phase of its expansion project to the Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC)…Vestas…has been contracted to provide delivery and commissioning of 100 new wind turbines starting in fall of this year. Upon completion, AWEC will be the largest wind facility in the nation and the nation’s first giga-watt scale wind facility.

"As the AWEC expands, Kern County’s tax revenues grow, along with other sectors of the local economy…Terra-Gen Power…[expects to pay] nearly $40 million per year in property taxes, landowner royalties, procurement of goods and services, and operating personnel…[T]he company has 300 employees and its contractors have hired more than 50 full-time employees…Terra-Gen estimates that Alta VI and Alta VIII will increase the wind energy jobs in California by 20 percent and add an additional 3,000 domestic manufacturing, construction, operation and maintenance jobs."

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"This expansion is called Alta VI and Alta VIII. The first five Alta projects were finished in April of this year when Vestas finished installation of 190 turbines, which transmit 720 mega-watts (MW) to Southern California Edison (SCE)…Alta VI and Alta VIII each represent 150 MW of wind capacity, for a grand total of 1,020 MW…

"[AWEC] will supply [enough power for] 450,000 homes…[cut] carbon dioxide emissions…[by] about 52 million metric tons…[and] contribute to California’s [20 percent by 2010 and 33% by 2020] requirements on using renewable energy sources…"

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"…[Utility Southern California Edison (SCE)] has played a key role in the expansion of the AWEC with the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project (TRTP), which is the first major wind energy transmission project in California…[It] will bridge the gap between the remote areas that produce renewable energy and the populated cities that can use it…The project should be completed in 2015 and will then be able to transmit 4,500 MW of wind and solar energy…[the] 250 miles…to Los Angeles…[and] San Bernardino [Counties]...

"Access to transmission, along with the 1,550 MW power purchase agreement with SCE, contributed to the marketability of the AWEC, attracting investors like Google and Citi…[which each] invested $55 million in the Alta IV project…[L]ocal businesses have seen a boost from increased activity in the wind industry…"