Wild Horse Wind Farm

The Wild Horse Wind Farm is a 229-megawatt wind farm built by Puget Sound Energy that consists of 127 1.8-megawatt Vestas V80 turbines on a 8,600-acre (3,500 ha) site 15 miles east of Ellensburg WA. The turbines are placed on the high open ridge tops of Whiskey Dick Mountain, which was chosen for its energetic wind resource, remote location, and access to nearby power transmission lines. The towers are 221 feet tall, and the diameter of each rotor is 264 feet, larger than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. The turbines can begin producing electricity with wind speeds as low as 9 mph and reach full production at 31 mph. They shut down at sustained wind speeds of 56 mph.