The Shepherds Flat wind project site stretching over 30 square miles and located at north-central Oregon will soon buzz with wind turbine installation activities.
As reported by GE in the recently held Windpower 2011 Conference & Exhibition of AWEA, the first of the wind turbines has already reached the site. Over 200 GE 2.5-100 wind turbines will arrive at the location before the end of the year 2011 and the balance of turbines will come in 2012.
GE 2.75 - 100 Wind turbine
The Shepherds Flat project will incorporate a total of 338 GE 2.5-100 wind turbines. On completion, the project will generate around 845 MW of clean power, which is enough to meet the electricity requirements of 235,000 homes. The wind project is anticipated to be completed in 2012. GE currently constructs some of the bigger sized wind turbine components such as machine heads and hubs at its Tehachapi, Calif., and Pensacola, Fla, production facilities. Its Tehachapi facility has manufactured the very first hub for the project in February and manufacturing of machine heads and other parts has begun in Pensacola at the beginning of this year.
The wind project valued around $2 billion is jointly owned, developed and managed by Caithness Energy along with other companies such as Google, GE Energy Financial Services, Subsidiaries of Sumitomo and ITOCHU. The project is a result of three 20 year power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison to assist California in achieving its renewable energy goals.