Permian Basin electrical grid continues to grow
Oil, gas boom is driving the need
A boom in oil and gas production in the Permian Basin of southeast New Mexico and West Texas is driving the need for additional electrical capacity to power extraction facilities.
A primary electricity provider in Permian expected to put a wind farm in Roosevelt County online next year, as construction began on additional transmission lines and added electrical grid capacity throughout the region.
Xcel Energy announced the Sagamore Wind Project would be ready for operation by the end 2020, a 522-megawatt wind farm to be built near the community of Dora, read an Xcel news release. It will include 240 wind turbines, with a new 14-mile transmission line to connect wind energy to the local power grid.
The company invested $900 million in the facility, employing more than 300 workers and providing enough electricity to power about 194,000 homes annually and bring up to $131.5 million in state and local benefits over the life of the project, the release read.
Constructed also began this month on the new, 34-mile, 345-kilovolt Eddy-Kiowa transmission line in Eddy County, with Xcel investing about $65 million in that project intended to create additional capacity for future electrical local growth, the release read, driven mostly by oil and gas expansion.
Xcel is also working to complete 200 miles of new transmission and distribution lines in the region, including the last segment of a 245-mile high-voltage transmission corridor between the TUCO Substation north of Lubbock, Texas to the Yoakum County substation near Denver City.
That line will connect with a 345-kilovolt line completed this year between Hobbs and the China Draw Substation southeast of Carlsbad.
“The purpose of the new line is to boost the power delivery capabilities of our transmission grid on the Texas South Plains and in southeastern New Mexico,” said Xcel spokesman Wes Reeves in a statement.
Throughout the region, Xcel expected to build about 100 miles of new transmission lines in 2020, and another 300 miles of distribution lines.
This year, the company constructed about 100 miles of transmission and distribution lines each, read the release.
Oil and gas production continued to be a main contributor to the need for added capacity, Reeves said.