Puget Sound Energy signed an agreement with a proposed Montana wind power project to obtain 350 MW of wind energy, the Seattle-area utility announced Wednesday.
Bellevue, Wash.-based PSE provides electricity to roughly 1.1 million people in eight counties surrounding Puget Sound. The 350 MW would supply power for about 140,000 households.
PSE signed the 20-year agreement with NextEra Energy Resources’ Clearwater Wind Project about 60 miles north of Colstrip, Mont. The 750-MW project will be the state’s largest, covering southeastern Montana’s Rosebud, Garfield and Custer counties and is expected to go online in late 2022.
“We are excited to partner with NextEra Energy Resources, which will move us toward achieving our goal of reducing our own carbon emissions to net zero by 2045,” Ron Roberts, PSE vice president of energy supply, said in a statement. “… We’ve been saying Montana has great wind resources and this agreement demonstrates PSE’s continued investment in Montana’s energy economy.”
“This is an important step forward in diversifying our regional economy, creating new jobs and bolstering local tax revenues for our schools, roads and county services,” said Bob Lee, Rosebud County commissioner. The project is expected to create 350 construction jobs and up to 20 permanent jobs.
Located in Rosebud County, Colstrip is home to a 1,480-MW coal-fired power plant co-owned by PSE, Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp, NorthWestern Energy and Talen Energy. Washington was Colstrip’s biggest power customer, but a 2019 law requires the state to stop using coal-fired power by 2025. Consequently, PSE caused two of the four Colstrip power units to close in 2020 while the other two units are slated for closure in 2025. The Clearwater Project will use the same transmission lines that stretch from Colstrip to Washington.
Montana has two other wind turbine sites in play.
Portland-based PacifiCorp’s Pryor Mountain Wind Farm recently went online in southeastern Montana with a 240-MW capacity to serve 76,000 homes.
In late 2020, Houston-based Broad Reach Power bought two local wind and solar power projects based in Billings, Mont. One is a 250-MW project expected to be completed in 2022. The 250-MW solar farm is expected to go online in 2023.