http://www.windaction.org/ facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts en-us Windaction hourly 1 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.windaction.org/articles/4208 Wed, 02 Aug 2006 10:45:51 GMT Nearly completed Wild Horse Wind Project 1.8 MW turbines sit in the hills east of Ellensburg, Wash., on July 12. http://www.windaction.org/articles/4208 http://www.windaction.org/articles/4193 Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:05:46 GMT Wind plant near the Oregon-Washington border http://www.windaction.org/articles/4193 http://www.windaction.org/articles/3527 Mon, 19 Jun 2006 14:12:45 GMT Workers atop a generating unit near Bickleton, Klickitat County, wait to guide rotors into place 262 feet above the ground. Once assembled, the final structure is 357 feet tall. http://www.windaction.org/articles/3527 http://www.windaction.org/articles/3419 Wed, 14 Jun 2006 08:10:05 GMT http://www.windaction.org/articles/3419 http://www.windaction.org/articles/2348 Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:32:00 GMT Eastern Washington is home to five operating wind farms so far, including this one near Walla Walla. http://www.windaction.org/articles/2348 http://www.windaction.org/articles/1182 Thu, 05 Jan 2006 14:20:03 GMT http://www.windaction.org/articles/1182 http://www.windaction.org/articles/6632 Sat, 01 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT Workers at the Hopkins Ridge Wind Farm, near Dayton in Columbia County, assemble turbines in October 2005. Hopkins Ridge, owned by Puget Sound Energy, has been generating electricity for customers since November 2005. http://www.windaction.org/articles/6632 http://www.windaction.org/articles/24128 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:25:54 GMT A state energy council on Monday recommended approval of the 95-turbine Desert Claim Wind Power Project but also put conditions on its future construction and operation eight miles northwest of Ellensburg. The approval is a recommendation to Gov. Chris Gregoire who will make the final decision on the project, which has been sought since January 2003 by the French-owned firm of enXco USA Inc. Gregoire is expected to formally receive the recommendation in early December and has until early February to make her decision. http://www.windaction.org/articles/24128 http://www.windaction.org/articles/24070 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:37:10 GMT The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Hal Holmes Community Center to consider a recommendation to Gov. Chris Gregoire on whether to approve the 95-turbine, $330 million Desert Claim Wind Power Project. EFSEC officials estimate a final decision by the governor could come in early February 2010 at the latest. The wind farm, proposed by the French-owned firm of enXco USA Inc., is planned for eight miles northwest of Ellensburg spread on 5,200 acres north of Smithson Road. http://www.windaction.org/articles/24070 http://www.windaction.org/articles/23768 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:42:24 GMT The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, today resumes deliberations on whether to approve the 95-turbine, $330 million Desert Claim Wind Power Project proposed for eight miles northwest of Ellensburg. EFSEC's seven members were scheduled to gather again behind closed doors in Olympia at 1 p.m. today, according to EFSEC Manager Allen Fiksdal. http://www.windaction.org/articles/23768 http://www.windaction.org/articles/23406 Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:54:51 GMT John Lodahl held the torpedo-like instrument steady while Max Holder calibrated it from inside a metal-skinned microwave station on this cold, windswept hill north of Sunnyside. Satisfied with the readings, Lodahl climbed down from the top of the 30-foot tower on a recent morning, marking the end of a tour that has taken the pair from Astoria, Ore., at the mouth of the Columbia River, to the Horse Heaven Hills in Benton County over the past five weeks. http://www.windaction.org/articles/23406 http://www.windaction.org/articles/23177 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:15:35 GMT Biomass growing on 2.1 million acres of state forests could be burned to generate electricity or converted to a liquid fuel called methanol, he said. Further, he endorsed the careful expansion of the state's burgeoning wind energy business to the west side of the Cascades - provided the massive towers won't imperil wildlife. ...Wind is not the only renewable energy resource on state lands, he said. Goldmark will sort through 30 proposals for two biomass pilot projects http://www.windaction.org/articles/23177 http://www.windaction.org/articles/22749 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:22:03 GMT Today the Bonneville Power Administration will install the first of fourteen anemometers to better track where and how hard the wind is blowing. The BPA, which markets power from the Northwest's network of federal hydroelectric dams, has struggled to incorporate increasing amounts of variable wind energy into the region's electric grid. http://www.windaction.org/articles/22749 http://www.windaction.org/articles/22345 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:16:25 GMT In the space of one hour last month, electricity generated at wind farms in the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge shot up by 1,000 megawatts -- enough to power some 680,000 homes. Less than an hour later, it plummeted almost as much. In coping with the variations, the BPA has at times adjusted flows through dams at rates that exceeded guidelines established to protect fish. "It is stressful. You have the threat of fish issues on one hand you are trying to prevent, and at the same time you're trying to meet load," she said. The events of June 4 and 5 highlight the challenge facing the agency http://www.windaction.org/articles/22345 http://www.windaction.org/articles/22343 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:04:20 GMT A proposal to create a 200,000-acre, scenic-protection area to keep out most commercial wind turbines created so much public interest that planning commissioners had to cut their Thursday meeting short, with the promise to continue the public testimony at their next hearing. At the heart of the issue is an amendment to the Umatilla County Comprehensive Plan proposed by Blue Mountain Alliance. http://www.windaction.org/articles/22343 http://www.windaction.org/articles/22288 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:31:38 GMT Wind-powered generators dominate the landscape along the eastern Oregon reaches of the Columbia River. Managing their intermittent power output has become a major issue for the Bonneville Power Administration. ...By October, the agency intends to establish a system to knock wind farms off its transmission grid when they are operating so far outside their scheduled output that it threatens to exhaust the agency's hydro reserves. http://www.windaction.org/articles/22288 http://www.windaction.org/articles/22262 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:21:31 GMT Fire crews expect to have a wildland fire near a Kittitas County wind farm contained by this evening. ...She said the lack of significant wind has helped the 20-person DNR crew working on the fire. DNR is also using helicopters to drop water on the fire. http://www.windaction.org/articles/22262 http://www.windaction.org/articles/22173 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:24:48 GMT A state energy council will soon begin deliberations on whether to recommend approval of the proposed Desert Claim Wind Power Project now that formal hearings on the wind farm concluded Monday in Ellensburg. Members of the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, will take with them two main messages heard Monday at an evening hearing from citizens, property owners and group representatives. http://www.windaction.org/articles/22173 http://www.windaction.org/articles/22009 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:32:56 GMT The Maryhill Museum of Art has defied convention since it opened, with its utopian origin, eclectic collection and even its location making the green-lawned mansion an incongruous landmark on a desolate ridge above the Columbia River. Now the nonprofit museum's individuality extends into the realm of renewable energy. http://www.windaction.org/articles/22009 http://www.windaction.org/articles/21476 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:42:51 GMT The Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm planned for northwest of Ellensburg, is calling on a state energy council to reduce the number of its wind turbines and towers from 65 to a maximum 52. Major construction on the project is set to start in early spring 2010. http://www.windaction.org/articles/21476