The green energy transition is a long and complicated process. One major component of that complexity is that some of the best locations for green energy production — that is, areas with extreme sunlight or high winds — are not the areas where humans actually live. Pattern Energy is attempting to resolve this, with plans to generate massive amounts of green energy at a New Mexico facility, SunZia, and then transmit that power directly into the Los Angeles metro area.
Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan breaks down what this breakthrough means, and is relieved to see the viability of the SunZia project. Zeihan reminds us, however, that the United States will still need hundreds more of these large projects before the country can seriously discuss moving past fossil fuels.
The following is an excerpt from Peter’s Jan. 23 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
The largest Greentech power generation system in the hemisphere is under construction in New Mexico. SunZia has raised $11 billion for this project and aims to generate 3.5 gigawatts of wind power for the New Mexico, Arizona, and California energy markets.
This is a massive step for the green transition, and it will play a pivotal role in bolstering green power generation within the U.S. You might be wondering why they chose wind power; well, it’s more cost-effective than solar, more reliable, and tech advances have enabled us to tap into more stable and powerful currents.
The transmission component of this project is important to; it shows that the energy can be generated and captured in regions with low demand and moved across state lines into areas with high demand. We’ll have to wait and see how this will work in practice, but this is looking like a ‘win’ as of now.
The SunZia project is just the tip of the spear as we’ll continue to see more of these projects pop-up soon, but this is a great start for the green transition. The first energy from this plant isn’t expected to be generated until 2026, so don’t pop the bubbly quite yet.