Ross Wilkers
The National Nuclear Security Administration has received the final wind turbines for a wind farm in Amarillo, Texas that is being built by Siemens Government Technologies, the German conglomerate’s U.S. federal business organization.
Siemens has set the operational date for the Pantex Renewable Energy Project as July 31, 2014 — nearly a year after NNSA and the company broke ground on the 1,500-acre site.
Judy Marks, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, highlighted the federal government’s wind energy goals at the time and how Siemens is working to help in that effort. (Click bold link above for comments).
Amarillo station KAMR-TV covered the signing ceremony, which featured Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), State Sen. Kel Seliger and State Rep. Four Price signing their names on one of the turbine blades (pictured left).
(From left to right: Karl Waltzer, acting deputy manager for NNSA’s production office; Seliger; Thornberry; Price; Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole; and Carson County Judge Lewis Powers)
The station reports that the project is scheduled for completion in the spring.
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Siemens Government Technologies is building the farm under an energy savings performance contract, which will fund the cost of the project from the energy savings promised to NNSA by Siemens.
NNSA is targeting $2.8 million in average savings per year at Pantex over 18 years.
The agency also intends to curb more than 35,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions pear year, equivalent to removing 7,200 cars from the road each year or planting more than 850,000 trees.
Upon completion, Pantex will have five 2.3-megawatt turbines that will work to generate 47 million kilowatt hours of energy per year, which Siemens says is equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power 3,500 homes.
