On June 19, Project Porchlight got a special tour of Puget Sound Energy [1]'s Wild Horse Wind Farm [2] in Washington State. It was the perfect outing for our staff as we get ready to launch Project Porchlight, as well as PSE’s Rock the Bulb campaign [3] and Be an Energy Rock Star Contest [4], in the Puget Sound region. Not only was it a great bonding experience, but it showed us how far our partner, PSE, has come in their ongoing energy conservation efforts.
The guides at Wild Horse took us around the facility, and we were blown away by the farm’s impact in Washington State. PSE is clearly capitalizing on wind as a powerful source of innovative, clean, and renewable energy. The facility has 127 wind turbines that provide approximately 230 megawatts of affordable, pollution-free electricity to the Northwestern United States—enough to serve the energy needs of approximately 69,000 homes annually! Later this year, a 22 turbine expansion will raise the facility’s capacity to more than 270 megawatts.
“It was amazing to see how massive the turbines are and how powerful they can be with just a 10 mile an hour wind,” says Events Coordinator Anna Cronin. “The impact they make on energy conservation is incredible.”
Wild Horse also features an array of solar panels that generate up to 500 kilowatts of electricity, much of which is used to power the farm itself. Pictured in front of the solar panels are four PSE Project Porchlight team members: Data and Mapping Coordinator Quinn Hanson, Regional Campaign Manager Shevanthi Daniel, Administrative Assistant Kellie King, and Call Center Representative Krista Seabrook.
Our entire team left the Wild Horse Wind Farm inspired and excited about the upcoming challenge of helping families and individuals throughout PSE’s coverage area take an active role in reducing their energy consumption. With PSE’s impressive track record in Washington, the campaign is already off to a strong start!
Washington state’s oldest local energy utility, Puget Sound Energy [5] serves more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers in 11 counties. A subsidiary of Puget Energy [6], PSE meets the energy needs of its growing customer base through incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service and delivering energy that is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and environmentally responsible. For more information, visit www.PSE.com [7].