Coconino County’s planning commission has approved a wind farm to be built 25 miles north of Flagstaff. It’s the latest in a series of renewable energy projects in the region.
The commission voted 4-2 to approve up to 100 turbines that are expected to reach 640 feet in the air.
Morgan Schwenn is senior development manager for RWE, a Texas based independent power producer that already runs 3,000 turbines across 10 states.
She says demand has been rising in Arizona while power stations have shut down. And she argued that wind fills in when solar energy’s main source goes down.
"Wind creates a really balanced profile. So states in the West like Arizona have a fantastic solar resource but solar only produces at one time of day. Whereas what we see with wind farms is that they actually tend to blow in the evenings and the nights where there’s a need that solar is not meeting," she said.
The wind farm could go up starting next year, she said.
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This summer was the hottest on record in the Valley, and local governments are grappling with how to respond to the growing threat of extreme heat. In Tempe, city officials are considering microgrid power sources to keep certain community spaces cool, even in an emergency. -
The Arizona Corporation Commission indicated it could move to take over a struggling rural water company that serves about 150 people in La Paz County if it doesn’t resolve a litany of issues left behind by its owner, who died in 2023. -
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to overturn the Inflation Reduction Act. But that would take an act of Congress, and many of Trump’s fellow Republicans represent states that reap big benefits from it, and some have openly vowed defiance if necessary to protect the law. -
Arizona regulators narrowly approved a controversial proposal to allow utility companies to seek yearly rate increases over opposition from consumer protection advocates and the state’s attorney general. -
The proposed increase would raise monthly bills for the average residential customer by 3.5% – which amounts to $5.64. This comes on the heels of a 3.2% increase that took effect last month.
