Western Spirit, a project co-developed with Pattern Energy, achieved commercial operation at the end of 2021, when it was sold to Public Service of New Mexico (PNM) to be added to its existing grid. This purchase did not impact New Mexico ratepayers; 100% of the cost is borne by the wind farms that transmit electricity along the line. Western Spirit became the largest expansion of PNM’s transmission system since the mid-1980s.

Western Spirit is a 150-mile, 345-kV alternating current (AC) transmission line that is a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership between RETA and Pattern Energy. RETA began development of Western Spirit in 2010 after its need was identified in a New Mexico transmission system study conducted by Los Alamos National Laboratories.

One-hundred percent of the power comes from renewable resources located in central New Mexico. More than 590,000 homes are powered by the clean, renewable energy generated by this project.

Western Spirit made possible billions of dollars of investment in renewable power projects that could not otherwise be built due to limitations of the existing electric transmission grid. The project generated nearly two billion dollars in net economic impact.