Wild Horse Wind Farm

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The Wild Horse Wind Farm is a 229-megawatt wind farm built by Puget Sound Energy that consists of 127 1.8-megawatt Vestas V80 turbines on a 8,600-acre (3,500 ha) site in Kittitas County, Washington, 15 miles east of Ellensburg, Washington. The turbines are placed on the high open ridge tops of Whiskey Dick Mountain, which was chosen for its energetic wind resource, remote location, and access to nearby power transmission lines. The towers are 221 feet tall, and the diameter of each rotor is 264 feet, larger than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. The turbines can begin producing electricity with wind speeds as low as 9 mph and reach full production at 31 mph. They shut down at sustained wind speeds of 56 mph. Average annual output is about 642,000 MWh.[1]

The wind farm was built by Horizon Wind Energy, a subsidiary of Energias de Portugal S.A. (EDP), a world leading Portuguese utility. Construction began in October 2005 and was completed in December 2006. There has been an application from Puget Sound Energy to add an additional 25 turbines. If approved these are planned to be active in 2010.

[edit] See also

Energy Portal

The Wild Horse Wind Farm also has a Renewable Energy Center that is open to the public everyday April 1st thru November 30th from 9:00-5:30.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wild Horse Wind Facility

[edit] External links

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