The Columbian
The rush is on in the U.S. Pacific Northwest to harness wind power in the Columbia River Gorge and points east.
The Wind Turbine Co. of Bellevue, Washington, is the latest to enter the race. It hopes to build a five-megawatt wind power project on the site of a regional landfill.
The small wind farm, if it gets the necessary permit to operate, would be at least the fifth in the works in southeastern Washington. The largest of these is under construction between Walla Walla, Washington, and Pendleton, Oregon. It will generate 300 megawatts of power when it reaches its full operating capacity next year.
The Bonneville Power Administration has received 25 additional proposals for wind-generation projects since it solicited proposals in February. The agency expects to release its list of recommended projects in about two weeks. If all 25 of the new projects were built, they would have 2,600 megawatts of capacity—enough to serve the energy needs of 425,000 people, or a city the size of Portland, Oregon, said George Darr, manager of the Bonneville Power Administration's renewable power resource program.
Because wind turbines operate only when the wind blows, the actual output would be closer to 850 megawatts, he said.
Demand for Land
Darr has been getting about 20 calls a day from farmers who have been approached by would-be wind-power developers looking for land to lease. The most desirable sites are those in the path of strong prevailing winds and close to the Bonneville Power Administration's power transmission grid.
"It's my impression that developers have been swarming all over the Northwest, trying to lease farmland, most of them in the gorge area," Darr said.
The Wind Turbine Co., founded in 1989, has obtained several state and federal contracts to develop what Larry Miles, the company's president, calls the wind turbine of the future: a two-bladed windmill designed to be positioned downwind of prevailing winds. Miles said his turbine, made of lightweight material, is cheaper to install than the more common three-blade, upwind turbine, which must be rigid to withstand the full force of the wind.
About 30 turbines made according to the new design will span a two-mile stretch of the Columbia Plateau near a regional landfill just north of the Columbia River. Prevailing winds in the area blow from the west and southwest.
Despite local opposition to wind-power projects in the past, Miles said he expected little difficulty getting a permit for the project.
