Plans have been announced for the construction of a new alternative energy farm near the town of Valle, roughly 50 miles to the northeast of Flagstaff.
The Babbitt Ranch Energy Center will belong to the Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources. The company envisions a project that will include up to 53 wind turbines capable of generating 161 megawatts of renewable energy.
Also included: a 60-megawatt energy storage system.
As proposed, the project will be built on a vast rural site comprising nearly 43,000 acres, with roughly 1,000 of those acres being used for operational purposes.
The land in question belongs partly to private parties and partly to the Arizona State Land Trust.
NextEra is one of the largest investors in solar infrastructure projects in the nation, with up to $55 billion in facility construction planned during the next 3 years.
With operative facilities in Florida, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin, the company last year enjoyed revenue in excess of $4.8 billion.
Plans for the project will soon be submitted to the Coconino County Planning and Zoning Commission.
In a public comment, Wardah Abbasi, project lead for the company, said NextEra is conducting “environmental studies as part of our permitting process, including cultural resources investigations, natural resources and wildlife studies, and visual analysis and simulations.”
If all goes well, construction on the project could begin later this year, with an early 2023 completion date.
By Garry Boulard
