Wind Turbines Near Ellensburg

Dave left bright and early this morning at 7 am to attend his football officials camp at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.  A friend picked him up, so I had the car all day.  I discovered that there was a wind turbine visitor’s center nearby.  I am fascinated by the giant wind turbines.  The Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility is located about 16 miles east of Ellensburg, along the Old Vantage Highway.  This museum is run by the Puget Sound Renewable Energy Center.  PSE’s Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility is the largest privately owned wind energy facility in the Northwest.  PSE’s Hopkins Ridge in Dayton, WA, is the second largest.  Together, the Wild Horse and Hopkins Ridge Facilities generate enough energy to serve approximately 100,000 homes.  Set on a ridge above the Kittitas Valley, PSE’s Renewable Energy Center offers up-close views of the wind turbines and solar arrays, as well as the Cascade mountain range.  I saw Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and a tiny bit of Mount Hood.  Below is a picture looking towards the west at Mount Rainier. Located at 3,500 feet of elevation on Whiskey Dick Mountain, Wild Horse is a place of extreme weather.  Temperatures range from 0 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with maximum recorded wind gusts exceeding 90 miles per hour. This turbine blade looks small in the picture, but up close it’s huge!

The visitor’s center doesn’t charge admission fees and is open to the public from April through November.  It offers Wild Horse visitors a first-hand look at how energy can be made from the wind and the sun, as well as Central Washington’s natural and cultural history. 
An early windmill contrasted with today’s version. Solar panels at the visitor’s center.