The winds blowing across eastern New Mexico will soon fuel the nation's third-largest wind-powered generator. Because of the wind farm's remote location and the nearly 25 out-of-state contractors who traveled there to build it, rental equipment played a crucial role.
The $200 million wind farm stretches along 15 mi.2 (9,600 ac.) of land northeast of Fort Sumner on the Taiban Mesa. It is composed of 136 turbine towers, each more than 20 stories high and topped by 110-ft. propeller-like blades. The rotating blades cause a generator at the top of each tower to produce electricity, which feeds into a nearby high-voltage power line owned by the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM). The farm will produce enough power to supply more than 90,000 homes.

PNM and Florida Power Light and Energy LLC (FPL Energy), which leads the United States in wind energy production with 28 wind facilities in 10 states, signed an agreement for the 204-MW wind farm in a major step to diversify New Mexico's energy sources.
The development stage of the project started in 2001 with negotiations between PNM and landowners. Rusty Hurt, project superintendent for FPL Energy, says, "There were also extensive engineering studies that had to be performed to prove that this plant would interact properly with the electric grid."

Herling Construction crews began to construct a series of dirt roads on the Taiban Mesa, near the small town of House, NM, in March 2003. The crew rented 10-ton rollers and 4,000-gal. water trucks from Rental Service Corporation (RSC) during this phase. It was a critical first step in transforming a portion of the mesa into an energy production facility that produces no air emissions and uses no water to generate electricity.

"And only four and a half months later, in late July 2003, we were on-line," Hurt says.
According to Hurt, the most challenging aspect of the job was the remoteness of the site. "It made preplanning for tasks especially crucial. Being short just one bolt for a component causes a major delay. It was an hour to the nearest hardware store—and the same goes for equipment. For such a short-duration job, it is agonizing to wait on equipment to be delivered to a remote site." He says crews used rental equipment and the RSC equipment storage sheds to overcome this challenge.

Nearly all of the equipment on-site was rented, according to FPL Energy, the general contractor.

Hurt adds, "Because of the remote location, it was often more economical to rent the equipment locally—even though the contractor may have owned the same piece of equipment four states away."

At the job site RSC filled two storage boxes with equipment that Hurt and RSC Sales Representative Valerie Wheatstine anticipated contractors would need.

"This site was literally out in the middle of nowhere," Wheatstine says, "and when the contractors needed equipment, they needed it now—not in four hours. So we decided to set up two 'convenience stores' that had everything from light towers and generators to pressure washers and light compaction equipment. In addition, the storage bins contained retail items like safety vests, lanyards, earplugs, and hardhats. Whenever contractors needed something, they just checked it out and let an [FPL Energy] administrator know."
Hurt says FPL Energy decided to rent from RSC because of its "service, service, service."
"RSC was extremely flexible in setting up the onsite warehouse of equipment that all contractors could access," he says. "Since we didn't have to wait for equipment delivery, we didn't have any work delays."

Contractors rented everything from boom lifts to power tools from RSC. several fuel and water trucks were also on-site to keep equipment moving and the dust still, Wheatstine says. The following companies offered additional pieces of equipment:

• Beard Industries Inc. rented dozens of generators and compressors.
• Great Southwestern Construction rented skid-steer loaders, loader attachments, and articulating boom lifts.
• Herling Construction rented large excavators, several 4,000-gal. water trucks, three 84-in. rollers, compressors, light-compaction equipment, and generators.
• Kemco Corporation rented a rough-terrain forklift.
• J&J Powerline rented compressors, air breakers, generators, light compaction equipment, and light towers.
• Milco Constructors Inc. rented post drivers, water trucks, pressure washers, generators, air compressors, a laser level, several 10,000-lb. variable-reach forklifts, pickup trucks, equipment trailers, a 500-gal. water trailer, and two containers.
• Power Line Constructors Inc. rented a backhoe breaker, ride-on padfoot rollers, and air compressors.

Hurt thinks the most impressive technique used during construction of the wind farm was the way in which materials were transferred to construction teams. "Assuming that each turbine requires seven oversized truckloads of components, we had to flow over 1,000 truckloads into their assigned locations in about a 60-day window of time," he says. "We built that temporary road system, which allowed a smooth, one-way flow of traffic through the site."

The New Mexico Wind Energy Center was fully operational in July 2003, and now that construction is complete, 95% of the land leased for the wind center is still available for other uses, such as grazing and crop production. FPL Energy will own and operate the facility, and PNM will purchase all of its output for the next 25 years.

APRIL GOODWIN is a technical writer based in Des Moines, IA.

DE - Nov/Dec 2003