Locals can leave mark on wind project

Curry County residents will get the chance to leave their mark on the Broadview Wind Project.

The Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce, Clovis Industrial Development Corporation and Pattern Energy Group will host a welcome party for the Broadview Wind Project at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in front of the Curry County Courthouse on Main Street.

According to the Chamber of Commerce, Curry County residents will welcome Pattern Energy as its work on the Grady and Broadview wind turbines continues. Attendees can sign a blade — approximately 190 feet in length, according to CIDC Executive Director Chase Gentry — before it’s installed on a turbine north of Clovis.

Pattern Energy will also host a free barbecue luncheon following the blade signing.

The Broadview wind power facility, first announced in 2012, is located about 30 miles north of Clovis.

“It was developed by the landowners in that (Grady) area,” Gentry said. “They went out and found a developer, and ultimately, Pattern Energy came in to construct the project.”

The project will cost an estimated $760 million in its entirety, Gentry said.

Gentry said the three wind power projects acquired by Pattern Energy — Broadview Energy KW, Broadview Energy JN and Grady Wind Energy Center — still have at least 14 months left of construction.

He said the projects upon completion will have brought about 200 turbines and a total capacity of almost 500 megawatts to Curry County and Texas’ Deaf Smith County.

Gentry said the Broadview Wind Project also boosted the local economy when more than 250 construction jobs, along with 40 direct and indirect permanent jobs, were added to the area.