October 10, 2007
Oregon
Oregon
PacifiCorp, which already operates the Leaning Jupiter I wind farm, south of Arlington, Ore., will be raising more turbines soon.
PacifiCorp plans to invest another $100 million to expand its existing wind generation in the hills near Dayton, Wash. as it pushes to meet newly enacted renewable energy mandates in Oregon and Washington.
PacifiCorp’s Marengo II wind farm will comprise 39 turbines with a capacity of 70.2 megawatts. The actual output of the facility is less than its nameplate capacity due to the intermittent nature of wind. The project will generate enough energy to power about 18,000 homes.
Also Tuesday, the Bonneville Power Administration said it had reached a 20-year agreement to purchase 50 megawatts of capacity from PPM Energy’s Klondike III wind project near Wasco, Ore. The purchase will increase BPA’s renewable capacity by roughly 25 percent.
A previous PacifiCorp project, the Marengo I wind farm, began commercial operation in August with 140.4 megawatts of capacity. That project came on top of its 100.5-megawatt Leaning Juniper 1 wind project near Arlington, Ore., which went into commercial operation last September. Besides Marengo II, PacifiCorp has also unveiled plans to build two new wind projects in Wyoming.
State lawmakers in Oregon passed a state renewable energy standard earlier this year that requires electric utilities to serve 25 percent of their retail demand from renewable sources by 2025, with interim targets in intervening years.
Wind power is currently cost competitive with energy generated from coal and natural gas, and Oregon’s two largest electric utilities, Pacificorp and Portland General Electric, are scrambling to get a head start on the state mandates.
Ted Sickinger; 503-221-8505
October 09, 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/10/10/more-wind-power-for-the-northwest/