NextEra Energy repowers 78.2MW wind farm in US

NextEra Energy Resources has repowered its 78.2MW Vasco Wind Energy Center located in the Altamont Pass wind resource area around 40 miles east of San Francisco, California.

The company has replaced the older turbines at the wind center with newer turbines that have double the efficiency to produce power, though the output capacity is the same.

NextEra Energy Resources senior vice president of Development Mike O’Sullivan said the Vasco Wind Energy Center is more than just another wind farm to bring clean, renewable power to California.

"This project is a demonstration of people bringing their skills, knowledge and commitment together to make something good happen," O’Sullivan added.

"Many people worked on this project, and the result is a facility of which we can all be proud."

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) joined NextEra Energy for the reopening of the repowered wind centre.

PG&E Energy Procurement senior vice president Fong Wan said, "The Vasco Wind project is a good example of replacing older turbine technology with new, more efficient models which can better harness this renewable resource to generate much more clean electricity."

NextEra Energy subsidiary replaced about 440 old, operating wind turbines with 34 new turbines of Siemens with a capacity of 2.3MW at the Vasco Wind Energy Center.

The company also removed 286 foundations of non-operating sites, 180 power poles and more than 6.5 miles of overhead power lines.

The repowering process involves replacing older wind turbines with higher efficiency turbines or with turbines that have more capacity to generate increased power output.

NextEra Energy Resources is a generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and it owns and operates approximately 8,569MW of wind and 158MW of solar power generation at the end of 2011.