Del Mar firm signs deal for Mexican wind farm

By Onell R. Soto, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 12:28 a.m.

A Del Mar company said Wednesday it plans to spend up to $1 billion to build as many as 500 wind turbines on the mountains between Tijuana and Mexicali to provide power to the United States and Mexico.

Cannon Power Group said it signed a 10-year deal with Spanish wind giant Gamesa for the wind turbines, technical support and additional work on the 1,000-megawatt Aubanel Wind Project.

If built as planned beginning next year, the project will dwarf wind farms proposed for the mountains of San Diego County and will put towers as high as 25-story buildings with blades bigger than the wings of a Boeing 747 on desert ridges in a region of striking wind-carved rock formations spread over 140 square miles.

The wind farm is planned southeast of the town of La Rumorosa, about 75 miles from downtown San Diego. The first phase of the project, between 70 and 100 megawatts, will put its power on the Mexican grid about three months after construction begins, said Gary Hardke, president of Cannon, which has developed wind projects for 30 years.

Hardke said his company is working out who will buy the power and how it will get to market.

“There’s plenty of demand for power, green power, in the region,â€