Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM; Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.) and FPL-Energy (Juno Beach, Florida, U.S.) began the construction of the New Mexico Wind Center and Switching Station in February 2003. The 204 MW FPL-Energy wind farm is located in eastern New Mexico approximately 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

PNM has a 345-kV transmission line bisecting the wind farm site. The wind farm is scheduled to be completed and will be sending power into the PNM grid by the third quarter of 2003. To meet the FPL-Energy project's schedule, engineers at PNM, with the help of GE Industrial Systems (Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.), are designing, procuring and building a three breaker “ring-bus” 345-kV substation in just under 21 weeks. PNM reports, “We aren't sure if this is a record, but it certainly ranks high in aggressive construction.”

The state of New Mexico recently passed a law requiring all utilities doing business in the state to have 10% of their generated power produced by renewable energy sources by 2010. The FPL-Energy wind farm will supply PNM with more than half of this goal this year. The wind farm will have 136 1.5-MW GE Wind Energy turbines installed over about 15 miles (24 km) of high desert terrain. These machines are approximately 210-ft (65 m) tall.

FPL-Energy is one of the largest generators of electricity in the U.S. It currently has four wind projects under development. It is estimated the cost of this facility to be approximately US$2 million. The New Mexico project will supply enough electricity for 94,000 homes. PNM has received many inquiries from other wind generating companies looking to tap into the wind resources of New Mexico. Surveys have identified about 10,000 MW of wind generation potential in the area.
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