First tower goes up at Palouse Wind farm

The first section of the first tower of Palouse Wind’s $170 million wind farm in northern Whitman County was erected last Friday.

Construction was halted after the segment was put up because highway permits delayed shipment of the top segment and the naselle, the part of the turbine which generates electricity from the turning blades, according to Ben Fairbanks, western development manager for First Wind.

The project will consist of 58 turbines. Each is made of three segments that measure 25 to 30 meters long.

Crews hauled the bottom two segments of five towers to the site in the dark hours of...