First Wind ups ante on wind farm plan

First Wind has added 10 turbines to its proposed wind farm in north central Whitman County. Representatives from the firm this week told County Planner Alan Thomson they are planning to include 10 turbines on Steam Shovel Hill in its Palouse Wind project.

The hill lies south of the Naff Ridge site, on which the company plans to place up to 55 turbines.

Ben Fairbanks, First Wind’s director of Northwest business development, said test towers at the site showed enough wind to warrant the addition of the towers on Steam Shovel Hill.

The company erected the towers in June, shortly before submitting its wind farm application. The six months data received from those towers have shown Steam Shovel Hill to be a “viable” area for turbines, said Fairbanks.

“We feel pretty comfortable including it now that we have the commercial information - the wind data - to roll it into the (environmental impact statement),” said Fairbanks.

Thomson said the 10 towers were included in the firm’s initial wind farm application as a possible expansion area.

Because of that, they have been included in the environmental impact statement ordered for the project.

“The application is going to change,” said Thomson. “But they have been studying this area for possible expansion all along.”

Thomson said inclusion of the Steam Shovel Hill turbine sites will likely push the hearing for a conditional use permit back a month to May.

The final version of the environmental impact statement for the project was expected at the end of this month.

Thomson said the delay will be allowed to make sure the public has received notice that the application has changed.

First Wind’s application calls for turbines capable of generating 3 megawatts of electricity. With all 65 turbines, the farm would be capable of producing 195 megawatts.

Fairbanks pointed out turbines do not always produce their maximum output, and, he added, First Wind may not erect all 65 proposed turbines.

“It’s an up-to number,” he said.

Meanwhile, utility company Avista Tuesday issued a press release that said it is shopping for as much as 100 megawatts of renewable electricity to meet state-mandated renewable energy requirements.

State law, approved by voters in the 2006 as Initiative 937, requires Avista get three percent of its energy from renewable sources by Jan. 1, 2012.

Fairbanks said First Wind had not yet decided whether it will supply Avista wind power. However, Avista’s revamped transmission lines, located six miles from the project site, have been proposed to transmit power produced from the site.