nuclear-news

Texas nuclear weapons facility to build wind farm

Bloomberg News

11:45 AM

Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, broke ground today on an 11.5-megawatt wind farm at the U.S. Energy Department’s Pantex Plant near Amarillo, the main site for the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

Pantex will get about 65 percent of its power from the five 2.3-megawatt Siemens turbines that will be the largest federally owned wind farm when completed in July 2014, the department said today in a statement.

The project is expected to generate an average of $2.8 million annually in energy savings that will be used to fund its cost through an 18-year performance-based contract, the department said. Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital Inc. is providing upfront financing.

The wind farm is expected to generate about 47 million kilowatt hours of energy, enough to power about 3,500 homes.

The U.S. federal government aims to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020, up from the current 7.5 percent.

http://www.expressnews.com/news/energy/article/Texas-nuclear-weapons-facility-to-build-wind-farm-4728731.php

August 13, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized