The repowered facility will produce enough energy to meet the needs of 19,500 typical homes in PacifiCorp’s service territory. It’s anticipated that the project will generate an additional $14 million in tax revenue for rural Wyoming communities over the next 30 years.

Foote Creek I was the company’s first wind facility and the first utility-scale wind project in Wyoming, a jointly owned demonstration project commissioned in 1999 with PacifiCorp and the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) as co-owners and supported with a power purchase agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration.

The success of the facility and ongoing technological advancements led PacifiCorp to invest billions of dollars in low-cost wind energy, create associated tax revenue benefits and new wind energy jobs in rural communities in Wyoming, Washington, and Oregon. PacifiCorp is today 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.”

PacifiCorp will begin the process of repowering the Foote Creek I facility by removing the 68 existing 600-kilowatt wind turbines, originally installed between 1998 and 1999, and replacing them with 13 new modern turbines. The new machines offer a much higher output capability, which will be supported by new foundations, along with new energy collector circuits, switchgear, and controls. The result is significantly fewer wind turbines needed to produce an equivalent peak output, while dramatically increasing the energy production from the facility.

Repowering in 2020 will re-qualify the facility for federal production tax credits, which will be passed on as savings to PacifiCorp customers. It will also reduce ongoing operating costs associated with the older turbine equipment.

The project will extend the useful life of the facility by more than two decades, creating substantial ongoing benefits for customers when instead the facility would otherwise have been retired from service. The wind turbines only occupy about one percent of the land they are housed upon, thereby allowing the property to continue supporting traditional land uses such as grazing livestock.

“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.

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A favorable order from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission on July 20, followed approval from the Utah Public Service Commission on June 22. Wyoming, the third state in PacifiCorp’s six-state service territory that provides for regulatory review ahead of major capital investments, issued its conditional Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity on April 12, 2018.

In addition, Oregon and Washington have signaled support for the Energy Vision 2020 initiative as part of PacifiCorp’s 2017 Integrated Resource Plan.

The new wind projects will increase the amount of owned and contracted wind capacity on PacifiCorp’s system by more than 60%, and are expected to add enough new wind energy to power more than 400,000 average homes by 2020.

“As this exciting initiative receives these approvals, we look forward to the benefits the projects will bring to all our customers in the form of low-cost renewable energy and a more robust transmission system,” said Cindy A. Crane, CEO, Rocky Mountain Power. “These investments will significantly expand the company’s Wyoming wind fleet and benefit both state and local economies.” Rocky Mountain Power is the division of PacifiCorp serving Idaho, Utah and Wyoming customers.

PacifiCorp’s Energy Vision 2020 project adds three new wind projects in Wyoming that will provide a total 1,150 MW of new wind energy capacity, add a new 140-mile high-voltage transmission line in Wyoming, and repower 900 MW of existing wind resources in Wyoming and Washington.

The repowering projects will upgrade the company’s existing wind fleet with longer blades and newer technology that will boost output by more than 25% and extend the life of the wind turbines.

“We are very pleased to have reached this important regulatory milestone and to move forward with construction of these projects,” said Stefan Bird, president and CEO of Pacific Power, the division of PacifiCorp that serves customers in Oregon, Washington, and California. “Our Energy Vision 2020 plan is a win-win that supports our commitment to meet our customers future needs with affordable energy while continuing our transition to a clean energy future.”

PacifiCorp estimates its total investment for the Energy Vision 2020 projects will be just over $3 billion, a reduction from the initial $3.5 billion cost estimate when the projects were first announced in April 2017. The lower cost estimate is due to changes in project scope and reduced project costs realized through a competitive procurement process. Completing the projects by 2020 will allow customers to realize the full benefit of production tax credits and provide a net savings for customers over the life of the projects.

Additional approvals, schedule. In addition to the broad regulatory reviews and approvals in Wyoming, Utah and Idaho, the Industrial Siting Division of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality took action approving the permit for the TB Flats project on June 22, 2018, which is one of the three new planned wind projects.

Oregon, Washington and California, do not have statutes that allow commissions to provide similar regulatory review prior to construction of major projects. In those states, the full review and prudency determinations will come later when the company seeks permission to recover project costs. Regulatory commissions in all states will continue to monitor and conduct reviews of the Energy Vision 2020 projects.

Pending acquisition of remaining rights of way, receipt of permits, and execution of final contracts, construction on the projects is expected to start in 2019. The majority of the repowering projects are planned to be complete in 2019, with the remainder in 2020. Completion of the new wind and transmission projects also will occur in 2020.

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