Four companies, including Wyoming-based Pathfinder Wind Energy, announced an eight billion dollar project this week that would eventually send Wyoming wind power to California. If built, the wind farm would be one of the largest in the country.
The details of the plan, called the Pathfinder/Zephyr Wind Project might sound familiar because long-distance transmission of wind-power from Wyoming to the West is also the goal of the proposed Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project. If built, that farm, with 1,000 turbines, would be the largest in the country. But University of Wyoming Professor Jonathan Naughton said though they sound similar, California’s gigantic demand for power means the two projects are not really in competition.
“You start drawing concentric circles out of somewhere along the central coast of California, the first good wind quality you hit is Wyoming. I mean, it’s not a mystery of why this is there. It’s the best, closest wind to California.”
A key part of the Pathfinder project, and what really sets it apart from others, is the plan to build an underground storage facility for extra electricity. That could solve the problem of the natural inconsistency of wind. Companies behind the project say 2023 is the earliest it could go online.
