It takes a team to build a wind farm

Exergy Development Group, GE, Atlantic Power, Reunion Power, and Fagen Inc. all worked together to build Idaho's largest wind farm, the 183 MW Idaho Wind Project, a project that was divided into 11 different sites in two different regions.

By Diane Mettler

The Idaho Wind Project is the state's largest wind farm to date—122 turbines stretching across 10,000 acres of farmland—and was truly a team effort. 

The 183 megawatt project creates enough energy to power 39,700 homes and is the result of a collaboration between Exergy Development Group, GE Energy Financial Services, Atlantic Power, Reunion Power, and contractor Fagen Inc.

The wind farm is located in two different areas—Burley and Hagerman—with 70 miles between. The122 GE 1.5 MW turbines are split between 11 sites in southern Idaho (three around the town of Burley and eight around the town of Hagerman), which gives grid operators more flexibility and makes the sites more efficient.

Due to Idaho state regulations regarding the size of renewable energy projects, each of the 11 sites has a separate agreement with utility Idaho Power. 

The $500 million project came in on time and on budget and was ready for its operational phase by the end of 2010, with Reunion Power taking over as general manager. Like all large-scale projects, the real time was spent planning, permitting, and educating.

"We've been developing this project for five years," says Dustin Shively, energy systems engineer for Exergy. "Our company believes in an integrated approach. We started by going out and literally knocking on people's doors, talking to the landowners, and forming those relationships.

"The relationship with the utility was formed along the way," he adds, "but part of that was already in place through previous projects."

There was also all the necessary permitting on the county level, the environmental permitting, and other regulatory mandates to be met. The company took its time to make sure the entire project worked—both from a financial standpoint and what was best for the surrounding communities.

For example, the eight projects near Hagerman are on a plateau, and the Snake River is several hundred feet below. Because the canyon wall is full of bird activity and nesting areas, setbacks were required. Once they were set, Exergy literally went the extra distance, going back twice as far as the setbacks required. 

"We are very sensitive to environmental issues and do very thorough assessments," explains Shively. "We make every effort to look at the landscape and place our turbines to maximize their efficiency and respect the surrounding environment. When someone says ‘Don't go past this line,' we find it irresponsible to go right up to that line and push it to the limit." Pushing that limit inevitably leads to strained relations.

"Exergy's approach of doing what should be done is one of the reasons I work for them," he added, on a personal note. "It's not a matter of just how quickly can you get it up, sell it, and move on."

The location of the Idaho Wind Project was chosen because it met all the criteria—necessary wind speeds, good distribution and frequency of wind speed, and good connection.

"Transmission is a factor that really stops a lot of sites that may be a good wind resource," says Shively. "If it's too far away or the transmission is too congested, you're not able to interconnect. That's one of the primary reasons some of the Northern Midwest states, like the Dakotas or Eastern Montana, aren't full of wind turbines. It's not the resource—it's the transmission."

As mentioned before, Idaho Wind Project is an umbrella for 11 projects. "Each project is independent with individual land leases, interconnection agreements, and power off-take agreements. But for purposes of financing and economies of scale, it worked to make them a consolidated presentation," says Shively.

"It's unique," he adds. "I don't ever remember seeing this kind of layout, but it just comes down to how we can get these projects online efficiently. This turned out to be the optimal methodology for moving the projects forward." 

Creating partners of the landowners was also a big piece of the preparation. Shively says it was simply educating everyone about wind energy. "I'd go out and sit down with people and talk to them. We would get questions like, ‘Are these turbines going to interfere with my farming or ranching operations?' But before I sat down and talked to them, they didn't know the answer." 

Education and finding solutions for the landowners was ongoing throughout the planning process. Shively and his team talked to people at public meetings and listened to all their concerns. For example, some farmers were worried that the turbine towers would interfere with their irrigation pivots. 

Those pivots went into Exergy's mapping. "If we had the flexibility to avoid the pivots and farming operations, we absolutely did," says Shively.

	Fagen Inc., the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contractor and project manager of the Idaho Wind Project, was able to get the turbines up quickly—they installed 122 GE 1.5 MW turbines in 111 calendar days.

 
May/June 2011