The Kingman I wind and solar project located in Kingman, Arizona and owned by Western Wind Energy has begun operations. According to the company, the 10.5 MW combined wind/solar energy farm is the first purpose-built wind and solar project in North America. In other words, the combined wind and solar energy facility was designed and built for the power purchase agreement with Unisource Electric Services.

The project consists of five Gamesa G-90 2 MW wind turbine generators with 500 kW of solar panels located on a single axis tracking system. The farm went online on August 30, 2011 and began revenue service on September 16.

“This is a ground breaking, game changing development in the renewable energy industry where two completely separate types of technology and renewable fuel sources are integrated at the very beginning as a combined facility,” said Jeff Ciachurski, CEO of Western Wind Energy. “Integration of multiple renewable fuel sources allows for the maximization of existing transmission infrastructure by having a greater range of time of day availability. Western Wind Energy is excited to be the first owner/operator of this real-time, solution oriented facility.”