Contractors building the $380 million Wild Horse Wind Power Project east of Ellensburg began this week to blast and dig out the foundations for 15 of 127 towers that will support power-generating wind turbines.

“Quite a bit of blasting” is happening at the site centered 20 miles east of Ellensburg and two miles north of Vantage Highway, said Brian Lenz, Puget Sound Energy’s community relations manager for Central Washington.

The towers’ foundation holes are about 30 feet deep and 16 feet in diameter. Cement foundations will support towers that are 350 feet tall, from the ground to the tip of a vertical blade.

The project, owned by Bellevue-based PSE, is slated for completion by December 2006. Horizon Wind Energy, based in Houston, developed the project that gained final approval by Gov. Christine Gregoire on July 26. Horizon later sold the project to PSE.

The first towers are expected to arrive in May and erected in early June.

The site requires 30 miles of new access roads.

When complete, the wind farm will have a maximum generating capacity of 229 megawatts.

“So far, work is on schedule, and crews continue to build roads for the project,” Lenz said. “We want to express our appreciation to the public for their cooperation during hunting season.”

No hunting was allowed at the wind farm site, spread across 9,000 acres on Whisky Dick Mountain.

Work at the site began Oct. 17, and it’s estimated that the first turbine will generate power sometime in July or August.

Lenz said there are several contractors at the site, including Horizon Wind Energy overseeing some aspects of the work. One of the main contractors is Renewable Energy Systems American Construction Inc., a British firm that does much of the site preparation, road and foundation work and builds power transmission facilities. Lenz estimated there are about 45 workers at the site, and that number could climb to as high as 200 when work later peaks.

Renewable Energy Systems is the same contractor for PSE’s 83-turbine wind farm at Hopkins Ridge, 15 miles northeast of Dayton in Columbia County. The $200 million wind farm was completed Dec. 1. Hopkins Ridge has a maximum generating capacity of 150 megawatts.

A PSE news release indicated it operated at an average output of 111 megawatts in a 24-hour period on Nov. 26. The two projects make PSE the only Pacific Northwest utility company to wholly own and operate its own wind farms.