Wind farm contruction kicks off at Goshen site
Clark Corbin
Idaho Post Register
June 3, 2010
Business and government leaders from across the region participated in ceremonies Wednesday marking the beginning of construction at the Goshen North Wind Farm.
Located in the foothills east of Idaho Falls, Goshen North is a joint venture between Ridgeline Energy and BP Wind Energy that will send power to California. The farm will feature 83 400-foot-tall wind turbines spread across 11,000 acres off Bone Road.
The project, billed as the largest wind farm in the state in terms of generating capacity, is expected to produce enough energy to power 37,000 homes per year, Ridgeline and BP officials said.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, Idaho Department of Commerce Director Don Dietrich, several Idaho legislators and Linda Martin, executive director of Grow Idaho Falls Inc., attended the event and signed one of the 13,000-pound turbine blades that will soon be installed at the site.
"Idaho is the green spot for energy production in the world as far as I am concerned," Otter said before scrawling "Keep the wind at your back" and his signature on one of the turbine's blades.
Crews earlier this spring built 15 miles of new private roads near the project to facilitate construction and maintenance. The first of the 1.5-megawatt-rated turbines will be raised near Blacktail Park at Ririe Reservoir later this week, Ridgeline Project Manager Randy Gardner said.
Goshen North is expected to be operational by Oct. 31, Gardner said.
Ridgeline officials said the two companies are investing about $300 million to build the project. The companies also combined to hire more than 250 construction workers and selected Minnesota-based Mortensen Construction to serve as the project's general contractor.
Between the value of jobs created, lease payments to nine affected property owners and taxes collected, Goshen North is expected to make a $20 million economic impact in Bonneville County, Dietrich said.
"(Eastern Idaho) is gaining the attention of the global players in the wind energy market," Dietrich said. "This is really unique, not just in our state but across the country, in that we have all this capacity and capability right here."
BP and Ridgeline entered a 20-year agreement to sell 90 megawatts of power produced at Goshen North to Southern California Edison, a utility that serves about 14 million people.
Officials with both BP and Ridgeline discussed an interest in developing additional Idaho wind farms, though no specific plans were announced.
"There are many more projects like this to go in Idaho," Ridgeline CEO Steve Vorhees said. "Idaho has a great wind future, great resources and it's a great place to do it."
Business reporter Clark Corbin can be reached at 542-6761. Comment on this story at Post Talk at www.postregister.com/posttalk.
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