North American Windpower: U.S. Government's Largest Wind Farm Planned For Nuclear Weapons Facility

by NAW Staff on Wednesday 16 January 2013

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded a contract to Siemens Government Technologies Inc. to construct and operate the U.S. government's largest wind farm.

Under the agreement, Siemens will provide a wind farm system for 20 years, including a five-year service, maintenance and warranty agreement with operations and maintenance options in years six through 10. Siemens will also provide an annual energy production guarantee.

The Pantex wind farm will consist of five 2.3 MW turbines located on 1,500 acres of government-owned property east of the Pantex Plant, a federal nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. The project will allow the NNSA to meet almost all of its renewable energy goals while also offering research opportunities to Texas Tech University and its research collaborators.

The wind farm will fulfill more than 60% of Pantex’s annual electricity needs, the NNSA notes.

“Three years of hard work, dedication and determination have paid off,” says Steve Erhart, manager of the NNSA’s production office. “The NNSA’s goal was to turn Texas wind into energy, and we have overcome numerous hurdles in implementing the contracting strategy.”

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