Iberdrola Renewables announced today that it signed a deal to sell the entire output of the first phase of the company's Dry Lake wind farm. An Arizona utility company, the Salt River Project, is the buyer.

Iberdrola expects that the Dry Lake Wind Project will be the first wind farm built in Arizona. The farm will be built on a combination of private, state and federal lands, approximately 18 miles northwest of Snowflake. Iberdrola Renewables is based in Portland, Oregon, but is actually a subsidiary of a Spanish power utility, also name Iberdrola.

The Salt River Project has been signing quite a few deals lately. In June, the project signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Raser Technologies for geothermal power. Richard Hayslip is the associate general manager of Sustainability, Risk Management, Environmental Services & Land Management for Salt River. Hayslip said in an interview with Cleantech that Salt River Project has been looking for an Arizona-based wind energy project. "Adding wind energy to our resource mix will provide more clean energy for our customers while at the same time helping to increase the overall renewable energy supply in Arizona."

Iberdrola plans to start construction on the Dry Lake wind farm in 2009, and to have the wind farm operational in 2010. The plans for the farm include 30 wind turbines generating 63 megawatts.

Photo — Fieldsbh