SunZia Project Shows Bottleneck Risk in US Clean Energy Shift

In 2006, Barbara Sultemeier began getting calls from companies across the US, Europe and even Australia, all seeking the rights to build on her small ranch about two hours southeast of Albuquerque, N.M.

It wasn’t the land that mattered to the firms. They wanted the wind.

The wind there regularly reached 50 miles per hour, lashing homes, whipping flag poles and sending garbage cans tumbling into neighbors’ yards. But what many New Mexicans dismissed as a nuisance, the developers saw as an invaluable resource to be harnessed to power fast-growing cities across the Southwest.

Sultemeier helped organize ranchers who, like her, had ...