Plans have been announced for the construction of what is claimed to be the world’s largest wind farm, 450 windmills strung out along the Washington-Oregon state line and generating 300 MW of power. Two thirds of the wind turbines will be in Walla Walla County, Washington, and the remainder in Umatilla County, Oregon. Building is due to start in February with completion scheduled for the end of the year. FPL Energy, a sister company of Florida Power & Light, will build own and operate the windfarm, while Pacificorp, a west coast utility, will buy and distribute the power in 13 western states.
The speed and size of the project owes something to the worsening of the west coast’s energy supply problems but the new willingness to invest in wind power suggests a change of financial attitude. Ralph Cavanagh, energy resources director for the Natural Resources Defense Council has characterised it as a signal from a significant player in the energy business that wind power is now marketable and profitable, rather than merely an exotic alternative.
The evolution of turbine technology has made wind power more profitable and safer; smaller rapid rotors have given way to slower moving, larger blades, capable of self-monitoring and of adjusting their direction and blade angle for maximum efficiency. The larger design has incidentally solved a problem that has plagued windfarms for years – the deaths in significant numbers of birds that fly into the fast rotating blades.
