What is the Alta Wind Energy Center?
The Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) is located in the heart of one of the most proven wind resources in the United States - the Tehachapi-Mojave Wind Resource Area. Terra-Gen Power is developing the AWEC, California's largest wind energy project, adjacent to existing wind projects in Mojave, California. Due to a welcoming community and the participation of a diverse group of landowners (private and public, local and non-local, large and small), the AWEC has a strong foundation for success.
The AWEC will be comprised of several distinct projects and will utilize the same wind resource that has powered thousands of turbines for the past two decades. In addition to a proven wind resource, in 2006, the AWEC executed a 1,550 megawatt (MW) Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to sell clean, renewable wind energy to Southern California Edison. The AWEC also secured priority access to a new transmission line that was completed at the end of 2009. Access to transmission and a market to sell wind power are two often-overlooked success factors that differentiate the AWEC from other renewable energy development projects.
Kern County is home to this historic endeavor that provides the following significant benefits to the State of California and the Nation. The AWEC will:
- Contribute $1.2 billion to the local economy via property taxes, landowner payments, procurements of goods and services and labor over the project's operating life
- Increases California wind energy jobs by 20 percent
- Provides electricity to 275,000 homes
- Reduces emissions by more than 52 million metric tons
- Reduces 888 million gallons of water use annually compared to other forms of energy generation
The AWEC has achieved unparalleled accomplishments that include:
- Spurred $20 million in landowner royalty payments resulting from projects generating electricity in 2011
- Invested $2 billion in the Tehachapi/Mojave region in 2010 and 2011
- Permitted the state's largest wind project in two years
- Hired more than 50 full-time employees and created more than 300 short-term construction jobs
