Gregoire Approves Wind Farm; Kittitas County Project Could Provide Power to 70,000 Homes
Posted on: Monday, 1 August 2005, 18:00 CDT
ELLENSBURG Gov. Christine Gregoire on Tuesday approved the first large-scale wind power project for Kittitas County, where some farmers and economic development officials have been at odds with residents worried about losing their mountain views.
The Wild Horse Wind Power Project has drawn considerably less opposition than two other similar projects proposed for the rural county.
The project is planned for a remote 5,000-acre tract of land atop Whiskey Dick Mountain, east of the Cascade Range.
Gregoire focused on the potential economic benefits of Wild Horse. "The project itself is going to be clean power. It's going to be jobs. It's going to be an opportunity for this community to showcase itself in the renewable market," she told about 50 people at the fairgrounds.
The project will be the fourth wind farm in the state. It is the first approved by the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, which endorsed it in May, and by Gregoire. The other three projects were approved by their individual counties under conditional use permits.
Zilkha Renewable Energy began developing the Wild Horse project two years ago. Puget Sound Energy intends to buy the $350 million project from Zilkha, which was purchased by investment firm Goldman Sachs earlier this year.
The project's permit allows for enough turbines to generate 300 megawatts of power. PSE plans to install about 127 turbines to produce 230 megawatts initially, leaving the door open for future expansion, said Paul Wiegand, vice president of project development and contract management for PSE.
That's enough power to supply more than 70,000 homes.
Some of that energy will remain in Kittitas County, where demands are lower. The rest will be sent elsewhere in the state where demands are greater, Wiegand said.
Construction is to start this fall, with the wind farm expected to be operating by the end of 2006.
The project will generate an estimated $1 million annually in local property taxes. About 250 jobs will be created during the construction phase, with 14 permanent jobs once the project is completed.
Local Angle
The Port of Vancouver is preparing for the arrival of 83 wind turbines to its docks within the next two months.
The turbines, from a company in Denmark, will be shipped up the Columbia River to wind farms in Eastern Washington.
It is not clear if any of the turbines will be shipped to Kittitas County.
Source: Columbian
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