Renewable

August 15 (Renewables Now) - US power company PacifiCorp has become the solar owner of a 41.4-MW wind park in Wyoming and will start a repowering aimed at lifting the plant’s output by 60%.

PacifiCorp, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, said earlier this week it has purchased the interest it does not own from co-owner Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) for an undisclosed sum. The Foote Creek I wind park in Wyoming’s Carbon County was the power company’s first wind farm and served as a demonstration project. 

The plant has been generating power since 1999, selling its output under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Bonneville Power Administration.

As part of the repowering, PacifiCorp will replace Foote Creek I’s 68 turbines, with capacities of 600 kW each, with 13 modern and more powerful machines that will be installed on new foundations and will produce “an equivalent peak output, while dramatically increasing the energy production from the facility.”

Once up and running, the repowered plant will be able to generate enough electricity to supply 19,500 homes PacifiCorp’s service territory. Its repowering in 2020 will requalify it for federal production tax credits, PacifiCorp said.