In its first 10 months serving Portland Normal Electrical (PGE) clients, the Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart contributed to new information for PGE wind technology, together with serving to the corporate produce 1 GW of energy from wind sources alone—a brand new milestone. 1 GW (or 1,000 MW) is sufficient electrical energy to energy the equal of 830,000 houses, or about half the variety of houses in Oregon.
The Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart, situated in Rosebud, Custer, and Garfield counties in Jap Montana, was developed in 4 phases by a subsidiary of NextEra Vitality Sources LLC, which operates and owns a part of the ability. PGE owns 208 MW of the middle and purchases an extra 103 MW by means of an influence buy settlement (PPA), supplying clients a complete of 311 MW.
The parts of the ability serving PGE clients achieved industrial operations by January 2024 and benefit from constant winds from the huge plains of the Treasure State (Determine 1). Alongside different renewable vitality tasks within the Pacific Northwest, the Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart provides variety and consistency to PGE’s vitality portfolio, permitting the corporate to supply energy for patrons when it’s accessible from a wide range of useful resource varieties and places.
With Montana’s considerable and constant wind, the Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart delivers excessive ranges of manufacturing through the winter and summer season, permitting PGE to serve Oregon clients further dependable clear vitality in periods of excessive demand. In January 2024, PGE’s owned and contracted wind amenities produced a most output of greater than 1 GW of wind energy for the primary time, thanks largely to the addition of the Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart. This milestone was achieved once more on one other 25 days all through 2024, together with on February 26, when PGE reached its all-time file for optimum wind technology at 1,056 MW (Determine 2). Along with the Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart, which constantly contributes about 34% of PGE’s every day wind technology, PGE additionally operates wind amenities within the Columbia River Gorge.
The Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart was chosen by means of PGE’s 2021 Request for Proposal, a aggressive bidding course of by means of which the corporate solicits proposals for electrical energy technology amenities that carry worth to clients.
“In only a few brief years, we had been in a position to take the Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart from a proposal on paper to the environment friendly, productive facility it’s at the moment,” PGE President and CEO Maria Pope stated at an occasion in September celebrating the commissioning of the ability. “This plant is an instance of how working collectively, we will act rapidly to unravel among the largest challenges dealing with the vitality trade.”
The emissions-free energy generated on the facility is delivered to PGE clients by means of current transmission strains (Determine 3) on Northwestern and Bonneville Energy Administration’s system, in addition to an roughly 100-mile generation-tie line connecting to the Colstrip substation. The wind heart’s addition to PGE’s technology portfolio additionally reduces the necessity to buy probably pricey or greenhouse gas-emitting sources from the open vitality market, and takes benefit of federal manufacturing tax credit accessible to renewable vitality tasks.
“The Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart is a crucial element of the way forward for the Western clear vitality panorama,” stated Pope. “Sourcing vitality from numerous geographies improves reliability at decrease prices for patrons.”
Throughout every part of development, the Clearwater Wind Vitality Heart created as much as 350 jobs and continues to make use of operations employees onsite (Determine 4), whereas producing income for the local people. Wind energy continues to be an vital piece of PGE’s portfolio as the corporate works to decarbonize whereas offering dependable, reasonably priced electrical energy to clients.
—POWER edited this content material, which was contributed by PGE Communications.
