Pacificorp announced that it has acquired sole ownership of the Foote Creek I wind generation facility in Carbon County, Wyoming. Pacificorp plans to repower the facility which was Wyoming’s first utility scale wind project commissioned in 1999. The 41.4 mW facility led the way for Pacificorp to invest billions of dollars in wind farm development across the west over the last two decades resulting in Pacificorp as the largest regulated utility owner of wind assets in the west.
“Twenty-one years ago, PacifiCorp and its partners’ development of Foote Creek I helped pave the way for utility-scale wind energy as an industry-defining demonstration project,” said Stefan Bird, president and CEO of Pacific Power. “Today, this new investment in the project builds on our vision to even better harness wind energy and power the grid with increased efficiency, delivering even more low-cost, renewable energy to our customers.”
The 68 existing 600 kW turbine generators that were originally installed will be replaced with 13 state of the art turbines with higher capacity levels increasing the energy output of the facility by 60 percent. The repowered facility will be able to power 19,500 homes. Over the next 30 years, the project is expected to generate an additional $14 million in tax revenue for Wyoming.
“Acquiring full ownership and repowering Foote Creek I provides a unique opportunity to upgrade the company’s oldest wind plant, located in one of the most favorable wind energy sites in Wyoming, applying the latest technology so that it can continue to serve our customers well into the future,” said Gary Hoogeveen, president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Power.