Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
This chapter offers an in-depth account of the long journey that one
renewable energy developer took to develop a large wind energy project:
the 500 MW Windy Point/Windy Flats project in the United States. There is
nothing particularly unique or remarkable about this wind farm or how it
was developed; a similar sort of story could probably be told about dozens
of other successful projects. However, by delving deeply into the events
surrounding the development of this single wind farm—the personalities
and places—this chapter seeks to highlight the complex and important
human aspect that is inevitably present in most major renewable energy
projects.
A windy, welcoming place
Klickitat County, Washington, shown in Figure 8.1 below, is a rural county
nestled on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains in the northwest
United States. The county's western edge is covered with rugged, forested
terrain. A traveler heading east across Klickitat County is bound to be struck
by the rapidly changing landscape, with pine-topped mountains gradually
giving way to rolling foothills and then to grassy prairies and plateaus. This
quiet pocket of south-central Washington has remained largely the same for
more than a century, retaining a charming, small-town character.
The Columbia River Gorge—a majestic river canyon carved deep into the
Cascades—forms Klickitat County's southern border. Each year, hundreds
of thousands of wild Chinook salmon migrate up the Columbia River
Figure 8.1 Klickitat County, Washington, United States
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search