The SunZia Wind project, located in New Mexico, US, is an onshore wind power development with a capacity of 3.65GW.
Pattern Energy, a utility-scale developer and operator based in the US, developed the project along with the 885km-long SunZia transmission project.
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The groundbreaking ceremony for the start of construction of the $5bn project was held in September 2023.
Commissioned in June 2026, the SunZia Wind project became the largest wind power development in the Western Hemisphere. It is capable of generating sufficient power to meet the needs of three million US households.
The total economic benefits generated for New Mexico and Arizona by the SunZia Wind and SunZia Wind transmission projects are estimated at $20.5bn. The projects created more than 2,000 jobs during construction and 100 permanent jobs.
Project location
The SunZia Wind project is situated within the counties of Torrance, Lincoln and San Miguel in New Mexico, US. It covers an area of more than one million acres (404,685 hectares) on a rectangular plot of land measuring 80 miles (129km) × 30 miles.
SunZia Wind project details
The SunZia Wind project is equipped with 674 GE Vernova 3.6-154 wind turbines, which contribute more than 2.4GW of power, and 242 Vestas V163-4.5MW turbines, yielding 1.1GW of power.
GE’s 3.6-154 wind turbine has a three-bladed, upwind, horizontal-axis design and a rotor diameter of 154m. Key features include active yaw control, active blade pitch control and a generator/power electronic converter system, with a multistage planetary/helical gear design for the gearbox.
The Vestas V163-4.5MW turbine is the company’s newest high-capacity factor turbine. The turbine represents an enhancement of the V150-4.2MW and V150-4.5MW models, boasting a rotor-size-to-rating ratio that facilitates up to a 10% increase in annual energy production.
The turbine features a 163m rotor diameter and a swept area of 20,867m2, with aerodynamic brakes that include full blade feathering with three pitch cylinders, and a gearbox comprising two planetary stages and one helical stage.
Grid connection
The project harnesses the 550-mile 525kV SunZia high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line to distribute renewable energy across the western US.
The transmission line is pivotal in providing energy to customers in Arizona and California during peak demand periods in the early evening, when the availability of renewable energy typically diminishes.
Project financing
Pattern Energy announced the finalisation of an $11bn non-recourse financing package for the SunZia Wind and SunZia Transmission projects in December 2023.
The comprehensive arrangement included an integrated construction loan and letter of credit facility, two separate term facilities, an operating phase letter of credit facility, an innovative tax equity term loan facility and a holding company loan facility.
The consortium of banks and financial institutions that facilitated the approximately $8.8bn allocated to construction and term facilities includes BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, CoBank, ACB and Desjardins Group, along with Export Development Canada, ING Capital, Intesa Sanpaolo’s New York Branch, KFW IPEX-Bank and MUFG Bank. Other members of the consortium include the National Bank of Canada, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Société Générale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Wells Fargo Securities. All of the above banks and financial institutions served as the initial coordinating lead arrangers and joint bookrunners.
A $2.25bn tax equity term loan facility was also orchestrated by Banco Santander’s New York Branch and Santander Bank, with Bank of America, GE Vernova’s Financial Services business, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking and the Royal Bank of Canada participating as joint lead arrangers.
Additionally, Nomura Securities International and CPPIB Credit Investments III, a subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, contributed to the final segment of the financing arrangement.
Investment firm Nuveen, through Nuveen Energy Infrastructure Credit, provided a $546m preferred equity investment in the SunZia project.
Power purchase agreement
Pattern Energy entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Shell Energy (North America) and the Regents of the University of California (55MW) in May 2023 to supply a portion of the clean energy produced by the SunZia Wind project.
California Community Choice Aggregators have together contracted approximately 1.85GW of SunZia’s output.
The aggregators include Ava Community Energy (previously East Bay Community Energy), Central Coast Community Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, WestLight Energy (formerly Peninsula Clean Energy) and the Clean Power Alliance, along with Peninsula Clean Energy, Sonoma Clean Power, San José Clean Energy and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
In July 2026, Pattern Energy signed a 600MW PPA with Salt River Project, a not-for-profit public utility in Arizona.
Contractors involved
GE Vernova was contracted to supply its 3.6-154 wind turbines for the project. The contract marked the largest single onshore wind turbine order in the company’s history, both in terms of the number of turbines and power generation capacity.
Vestas secured the contract to supply, deliver and commission its V163-4.5MW wind turbines, along with a multiyear Active Output Management 5000 service agreement to ensure the optimised performance of the asset.
Quanta, an infrastructure services company, through its subsidiary Blattner Company, was contracted to perform various preconstruction activities.
Ulteig, an engineering company, was responsible for the entire electrical and civil scopes of the project.
InEight, a construction management software provider, deployed its InEight platform to oversee project controls and document management for the project.
Archer Fencing, Brink Constructors, Lone Star Transportation, Intuitive Safety Solutions and Aegean Energy Group, plus HASI and PCI Energy Solutions, are some of the other contractors involved in the SunZia Wind project.
