Plans have begun to solidify for the largest wind farm in the Columbia River Gorge.

The expansive project, known as the Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, calls for 300 turbines to cover 32,000 acres near Arlington in Gilliam and Morrow counties. The facility would produce 750 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 188,000 homes.

The developer, LifeLine Development Group of Sacramento, is a newcomer to a building boom that has drawn an array of national energy companies and Northwest utilities.

The company hasn't developed any wind farms. It was formed expressly for Shepherds Flat, said Patricia Pilz, LifeLine's development vice president.

Pilz declined to identify the corporate principals, except to say most were from California with strong backgrounds in wind energy.

LifeLine notified the Oregon Department of Energy last week of the project and of plans to submit a detailed application in September. A review by the state agency is required when wind projects exceed a 105-megawatt capacity.

"This is the largest one we've seen," said Diana Enright, an energy department spokesman.

LifeLine would be built in phases of 250 megawatts each, Pilz said. The turbines, each with a 2.5-megawatt capacity, would hook into transmission lines leading to a Bonneville Power Administration interconnection that would take the power to population centers to the west.

The size of the BPA transmission line, at 500 kilovolts, drove the decision to create such a large wind farm, Pilz said.

"The line made the economics of size important," she said. "Reality and practicality demanded it."

The first phase of the project wouldn't be completed until 2008, when BPA expects to make the necessary improvements to a substation to accommodate the additional power generation.

Other large projects in the area include a 450-megawatt wind farm that Oregon's largest utility, Portland General Electric, hopes to build in Sherman County. Last week, the state Energy Department approved a site certificate for the project, which clears the way for development.

Portland-based PPM Energy, one of the country's largest wind-power developers, has been the most active developer in the gorge this year. It's ready to move on the third phase of the Klondike wind farm in Sherman County, which would bring Klondike's capacity to 370 megawatts.

Across the river in Washington's Klickitat County, PPM is building a 200-megawatt wind farm called Big Horn. And it's working on a 100-megawatt Leaning Juniper wind farm near Arlington. PPM is owned ScottishPower, based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Another expanding project is the Stateline wind farm that straddles Oregon and Washington in the eastern end of the gorge. The project, developed by Florida energy company FPL Group, boasts a 300-megawatt capacity. Plans call for 200 megawatts more.

LifeLine leapt past all these projects, at least on paper, when it outlined its 750-megawatt farm.

"There's no question it's ambitious," LifeLine's Pilz said. "But remember, in many respects the size wasn't determined by ambition but by the nature of the interconnection."

Pilz would not disclose project details such as financing. Neither would she say whether LifeLine has lined up a buyer for the electricity, generally a requirement to secure the necessary development cash.

The project has been in the works for years, the brainchild of Gilliam and Morrow county landowner Clint Krebs.

Krebs owns most of the land that would be used for the wind farm, acreage on which he runs sheep and cattle.

"It's too windy, and the soil's too poor for farming," he said.

"It's taken years and a lot of hurdles," Krebs said. "And there's still a tremendous about of hurdles in front of us."

Gail Kinsey Hill: 503-221-8590, gailhill@news.oregonian.com