The team at the SunZia HVDC Voltage Source Converter Station project in Corona, New Mexico has been hard at work serving the community and their fellow employee-owners, despite the challenges of living and working in the remote desert — two hours from the nearest major city.
SunZia is an $11 billion project, and Sundt is supporting a piece of the infrastructure from two jobsites in two different states: one in Corona, and one in Coolidge, Arizona. Sundt is constructing converter stations and associated infrastructure for a new transmission system to support the delivery of renewable wind energy on a massive scale.
“Energy will be generated on a 3,515 megawatt, 550-mile wind farm in New Mexico and then transferred to an existing 500kVAC transmission grid in Arizona,” said Project Executive Mike Nunn. “This project is especially exciting for us because of the huge positive impact it will have on communities in New Mexico, Arizona and California. When completed, SunZia is projected to deliver clean energy to an estimated three million people each year.”
Performing work in rural areas presents challenges for the work and the people. Sundt employee-owners from Arizona and El Paso, Texas have relocated temporarily to the small village of Corona. The SunZia project has now effectively tripled Corona’s population, previously around 100 people. However, the close-knit team in Corona is finding opportunities to build relationships and connect with the community through service, a Sundt core value.
Creating a little holiday magic
Spearheading these efforts are Superintendent Dalton Malloy and Project Engineer Mitch Cozzens. Dalton played an integral role in organizing and facilitating the Christmas toy drives for his previous project, Compass Datacenters. Despite the constraints of being in a rural town, the team knew they wanted to replicate the magic of Sundt’s toy drives for the kids of Corona.
“We worked directly with the local school to gather the ages of all the kids and ideas of what each child wanted to make sure that we got something special for each of them,” Mitch said. “Then we set up donation bins on the project site and around town and put up flyers to advertise what we were doing.”
Members of the project team and citizens of Corona came together and were able to deliver approximately 180 toys to the 91 students of the K-12 Corona Public School District.
“The SunZia project brought in hundreds of people to this remote village very quickly, which has led to some growing pains,” said Dalton. “That’s why efforts like this are so important because we want to make a positive impact and show our gratitude for this community.”
Uplifting each other in times of crisis
The project team demonstrated that commitment again earlier this summer when lightning strikes caused wildfires to break out across southern New Mexico. Employees with Fleming West, a project subcontractor, were staying in Ruidoso, a small town affected by the fires. Two crews from Fleming West tried to save their belongings from the rapidly spreading wildfire, but weren’t able to make it in time. One crew was stopped by firefighters and first responders halfway to their accommodation because the area was blocked off due to the danger, while the other crew was able to make it back, only to witness their temporary home go up in flames before their eyes. Eight members of the team had lost almost everything they’d brought with them.
Members of the SunZia team jumped into action to raise money to assist their fellow crew members in replacing the belongings lost in the fire, as well as treating the team to a nice dinner to lift spirits after the harrowing incident.
When all was said and done, the fires had scorched more than 25,000 acres, burned an estimated 500 homes and displaced around 8,000 people. To further support the community as they rebuilt, members of the team banded together to purchase necessities like food, laundry detergent, water and more to bring to donation centers in Ruidoso.
“The camaraderie has been outstanding,” said Mike. “Everyone works extremely well together, from our own Sundt employee-owners on both the Corona and Coolidge team, to our subcontractors. Each of our subcontractors brings their own unique expertise, and everyone has been able to learn from one another and build up a culture of trust and respect. It’s really awesome to see how this team has come together to support one another and the community.”