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Construction of the wind farm in Rapelje begins

Posted on by darion

RAPELJE — The wind at the top of Jones Hill blows like a winding river flowing east, effortlessly turning the blades of a wind farm without even pausing for air.

This is what project manager Jim Logan calls the most favorable wind for the turbines Puget Sound Energy owns in northwest Washington state. The power will go out in this area, known as Beaver Creek, if Washington does not do so.

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“It makes sense for several reasons. The main reason is that wind peaks in Montana during the winter. And our eastern Washington winds peak in the summer. It helps even things out,” Hogan said. “The other issue is that in Montana we have transmission from Colstrip and we are legally leaving Colstrip at the end of 2025.”

In 2019, the Washington Legislature passed the Clean Energy Transformation Act, among other things, requiring utilities to obtain coal-fired power from customer rates by the end of 2025. The provision would force Bellevue-based PSE and Avista Corp. based in Spokane to exit the Colstrip Power plant. But because Colstrip Gear’s ownership extends deep into southeastern Montana, Puget remains nearby.

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Colstrip’s oldest owner purchased the power at the start of the 775-MW Clearwater Wind project, which spans three different counties between Forsyth and Miles City. She then began searching for a wind project in Montana that she could build.

The Beaver Creek project had already been carefully planned by its original developer, Caithness Energy of New York. Several years ago, Caithness proposed Beaver Creek as three separate 80-MW projects that it attempted to add to NorthWestern Energy’s portfolio as an eligible facility under the federal Public Utilities Regulation Act. PURPA, as the federal law is called, is intended to secure alternative energy contracts at avoided costs.

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Puget completed the purchase in late 2023 with the understanding that Beaver Creek would be open for use by the end of 2025. Construction crews will begin construction of the high-rise towers early this summer. The center of the turbine, or tower, is about 300 feet above the ground and the blades extend outward a distance of 220 feet, which means that at top pitch the wind turbine is 520 feet tall.

The hills around Beaver Creek mostly shield the wind farm from public view. The existing wind farm, located just a few hundred yards west of the Puget project, is barely visible from Interstate 90.

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“You don’t see it out of nowhere,” Hogan said. “That’s the coolest thing about it. And for many other projects, like ours in Washington state, some of our projects are along Interstate 90, where you drive down and see all the turbines. If you didn’t live here, I don’t know if people would even know we were here.

Residents from Rapelje to Reed Point know about Beaver Creek. Stillwater County Commissioner Tyrell Hamilton said his board awarded $84,000 to schools in each community this spring. The money will go to large-scale causes for local school systems, which graduate 10 students a year.

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“The state allows us to charge an impact fee of 1.5% of the total construction cost of the project, spread over three payments,” Hamilton explained. “The first year payment is $2.6 million. The second year is $2.6 million and the third year is a real increase that could be more or less.

“We put down just over $400,000 for the insurance policy. We asked them to enter into a road use agreement with Stillwater County. If they don’t, their insurance policy will pay to repair the road.

Additionally, the county grants Puget a tax credit, which begins tax collection at 25% of the collectible amount. The percentage recovered increases every year until year 11.

The roads leading to the project are continuously maintained and include over 30 culverts on the route for trucks consisting of two segments and turbine blades. Heavy loads travel along the interstate before reaching the ranch access road between Columbus and Reed Point. There, loads are prepared for the slow journey up the gravel hills to Beaver Creek.