Wild Horse Wind back

Developer:  Horizon/Puget Sound Energy
Kittitas County, WA

• Two page overview of project (.PDF)
• Details of policy context, visual impact analysis, and public response
• Image gallery

Project Background

The Wild Horse Wind Project (WHWP) is located on the ridges of Whiskey Dick Mountain, about 10 miles east of Kittitas and 15 miles east of Ellensburg, in Kittitas County, Washington.  This area is a part of the Columbia River Plateau region of northeast Oregon and eastern Washington.  The county is sparsely populated (population: 37,189, density: 16 persons/square mile) and the major land use patterns are agriculture and forestry.  In the 2000 census, the median household income in Kittitas County was $32,546 and the per capita income was $18,928.

The WHWP, as it is currently operating, has a capacity of 229 MW using 127 Vestas V80 1.8 MW turbines that reach a total height of 351 feet.  The project area covers 8,600 acres of cattle rangeland, roughly 165 acres of which is disturbed by the turbines, access roads, collector lines, grid interconnection and associated buildings.  The project did not require the construction of any new high voltage transmission lines.

Figure 1: Wild Horse Wind, after construction

Horizon Wind developed WHWP and sold the Site Certification Agreement (SCA) to Puget Sound Energy (PSE) in August 2005.  PSE currently operates and distributes the power from the project to its customers through PSE's Intermountain Power 115 kV transmission line.  Horizon Wind was owned by Goldman Sachs at the time of development (it has subsequently been sold to EDP, a major Portuguese utility that focuses on renewable energy), and has developed wind projects throughout the United States.  PSE is Washington's oldest and largest utility company.  The WHWP is PSE's second wind power facility and wind power currently makes up 2% of their power supply profile.

On their website, Horizon Wind branded the project as providing “affordable, pollution-free electricity to the Northwest,” that has brought new jobs and substantial property tax revenues to Kittitas County.  Furthermore, they write that the different parts of the project “blend well with other land uses”. Their website displays a picture of the project with a wolf trotting through a snowy landscape filled with turbines.  PSE's website stresses the new jobs and “more than $2 million in tax revenue annually to the community” through the project.   The project includes a 500 kW demonstration solar array and in April 2008, PSE opened their “Renewable Energy Center” at the site.  Open to the public seven days a week from April to November, the Center includes views of the entire facility, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and the Columbia River Basin to the east.  Interpretive displays at the center, developed by Central Washington University, “lead visitors on a trail of discovery as they learn about the site and renewable energy.”

Image Bibliography

Figure 1
Horizon Energy. "Wild Horse Wind Farm." <http://horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/images/Wild-Horse_051408.jpg>. (Accessed August 4, 2008).