Sandia National Laboratories is investigating the feasibility of a wind farm that will provide as much as 20% of the electrical energy consumed on the Kirtland Air Force Base including Sandia and DOE facilities.

The Labs' Wind Energy Technology Department and the U.S. Department of Energy Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program have embarked on a project to determine if such a plant is viable and if so to build a nominal 30-megawatt (MW) farm on the air base. A private company would design, build, and operate the farm, and DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration, Sandia and Kirtland would buy the electricity.

On June 10, 2008, Brian Connor (DOE) [presentation], Roger Hill (Sandia) [presentation], and Gary Seifert, (INL) spoke at the Industry Day event held in Albuquerque, NM. This event, in support of a Request for Information (RFI) preliminary procurement vehicle for the wind farm, drew 58 attendees. Presentations focused on the policy drivers for generation on DOE lands, information about the resource, electrical infrastructure, and land issues.

The Sandia Wind Farm Feasibility Project Responses from industry [RFI] were due on July 3.