America’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded a contract to construct the federal government’s largest wind farmto Siemens Government Technologies, Inc (Siemens).

The Pantex wind farm is expected to save an average of $2.9mn annually over the 20-year contract term. The installation will consist of five 2.3MW turbines located on 1500 acres of government-owned property east of the Pantex plant in Amarillo.

Using an Energy Savings Performance Contract, Siemens will provide a turnkey wind farm system that includes a multi-year service, maintenance and warranty agreement. The cost of the project will be funded by the energy savings guaranteed by Siemens and will enable Pantex to meet President Obama’s directive for agencies to meet federal energy mandates as well as supporting the Department of Energy’s renewable energy goals.

The wind farm is expected to generate roughly 47 million kilowatt hours of clean energy annually, which is more than 60% of the electricity required annually for the Pantex facility. This is enough electricity to power nearly 3500 homes and will reduce CO2 emissions by over 35,000 metric tons per year, which equates to removing over 7200 cars from the road each year or planting over 850,000 trees.