Turbines crop up across the river

As the permit process progresses for the first wind farm proposal in Whitman County, crews work with Renewable Energy Systems erecting turbines like these just south of Central Ferry. The turbines are part of Puget Sound Energy’s Lower Snake River Wind Energy Project across the Snake River in Garfield and Columbia counties. Crews are working now on Phase 1 of a two-phase project. The first phase consists of 149 wind turbines that will produce as much as 343 megawatts of electricity. PSE currently owns and operates the 87-turbine Hopkins Ridge wind farm around Dayton.