Xcel Energy expects close to 50% of electric power supply in its eastern New Mexico-northern Texas service area will come from wind and solar by 2023, more than double 21% last year, as it aggressively builds new power capacity and steps up purchases.

The developer, which ranks second among US utilities with wind power on its system (7.28GW) behind Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, took a step closer to that aspiration as it brought online its $700m 485MW Hale project in Texas.