Clines Corners Wind Energy Demonstration Project

The first 60 kW vertical axis wind turbine manufactured by Vawtpower Management, Inc. (VMI) is being assembled west of the Clines Corners Retail Center and immediately north of Interstate 40 in Torrance County, New Mexico. Clines Corners is 62 miles east of Albuquerque toward the Texas border.

The major components of this wind energy conversion system were delivered to the Clines Corners site from VMI's factory on April 15. The VP100 Model 60 being installed in eastern New Mexico is designed for high altitude (7,000 feet/2,200 meters) and modest wind resources (14 - 16 mph/6-8m/s average) sites.

The VP100 range in capacity from 50 kW to 150 kW and operate at or close to the end user of the electrical power (distributed generation). The VP100s are targeted for use by rural electric cooperatives, ranchers, farm irrigation pumping and other rural users in the Southern Great Plains.

VMI's VP100/60 was developed in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture Conservation and Production Research Laboratory in Bushland, Texas, and United States Department of Energy Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sandia Labs will instrument the Clines Corners turbine to analyze and confirm operating and production performance.

The VP100 is an evolutionary design descendant from earlier wind conversion machines developed by Sandia Labs, the National Research Council of Canada, the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), Agway, the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, FloWind and Vawtpower, Inc.

VMI has chosen Clines Corners as its marketing center for the VP100 turbines for the Southern Great Plains area. It hopes to grow with Clines Corners and become an important employer in Torrance County. Vawtpower Management, Inc. is headquartered in Placitas, New Mexico.