LOS ANGELES — Many cities across the country are working to find alternative sources of energy, and Los Angeles is no exception. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has set a goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2035. That’s 10 years ahead of the state’s goal of 2045.
To help get to the 2035 goal, the utility has looked at several alternative energy projects, including one that is based out of state. That’s where the Red Cloud Wind Project comes in. According to the LADWP, the project is the largest and lowest cost wind farm in the utility’s history.
The Red Cloud Wind Project kicked off in late December, harnessing the wind power produced from wind turbines spinning about 85 miles southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jason Rondou is the LADWP’s director of Resource Planning, Development, and Programs. He said the project includes 124 wind turbines in New Mexico, which will produce “331 megawatts of wind powered energy and that will actually power about a quarter-million homes in the city of Los Angeles.”
He said relying on the clean energy source for that much energy is equal to removing a half million tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
“From the environmental perspective, it’s the equivalent of removing 100,000 cars off the roads every single year,” he said.
The wind power will be delivered to Los Angeles through transmission lines that used to be used for fossil fuels.
Jessica Gable, with the environmental watchdog group Food and Water Watch, spoke to Spectrum News 1 from Silver Lake on a sunny day overlooking the reservoir.
“Obviously, it’s always better when a community can produce their own renewable energy,” Gable said. “But Food and Water Watch is in general a proponent of any investment in renewable energy sources like solar and wind.”
A different environmental group criticized the Red Cloud Wind Project saying it puts an unnecessary strain on a desert ecosystem and says funds should be spent on expanding clean energy sources closer to home.
Rondou said the LADWP recently did a study looking at how to get to 100% renewable energy by 2035. It found it will take both outsourcing and local projects.
“This is not really either or. This is a we have to investment in both areas,” he said.
The project will cost residential customers an additional $4.86 each year during the 20-year term of the project.
To learn more about the project, click here.