Largest renewable energy project in the U.S. is powering San Mateo County

The largest renewable energy infrastructure project in the United States is now providing clean electricity to customers across the western energy grid–including in San Mateo County! 

The SunZia project includes a wind farm with over 900 turbines, located in New Mexico, capable of generating up to 3500 MW of renewable energy and a 550-mile transmission line that runs through New Mexico and Arizona to deliver power to California and Arizona. SunZia has the capacity to generate more than three times as much energy as the next largest wind farms in the country, and it singlehandedly nearly doubles New Mexico’s total wind energy generation capacity. In California, peak wind energy has jumped by about 40% statewide after SunZia came online!

This good news directly impacts District 13, too. WestLight Energy (formerly Peninsula Clean Energy), the Community Choice Aggregator that serves San Mateo County, signed an energy procurement agreement to receive up to 220 megawatts of renewable wind energy from SunZia. That’s 45 percent of San Mateo County’s average energy demand in 2024! Given that wind in New Mexico has a capacity factor (the ratio of actual average output to theoretical maximum output) of around 40%, SunZia will be providing about a fifth of WestLight’s total annual energy–that’s pretty amazing.

As we move towards 24/7 clean energy, SunZia’s clean wind energy will complement CA’s existing abundant solar energy: in New Mexico, winds are often strongest in the evening, meaning that the project can provide clean energy at times when solar isn’t producing as much clean energy for us. The buildout of domestic clean energy projects like SunZia reduces volatility and helps ensure that energy is sustainable, reliable, and affordable for all!