Energy Pad Exercise: Wind

Wind 3: Wind farm in north central Oregon

        The wind farm I examined from a bird's eye view is located at 45°39'53" N, 120°18'24" W, in the northernmost part of Gillian county, Oregon, USA. It is just south of the Colombia gorge, and roughly 185 km directly east of Portland. 

        In the oldest viewable image, taken on July 11th, 1996 (shown below) it appears that the land in question was being used to grow crops of some sort, possible wheat, hay, grass, alfalfa, or something of that likening. There are tractor lines tracing the perimeters, and there is a grid laid out on the interior of the land. 

          The windmills must have been put in sometime between September 2009 and August of 2011. This period of time followed the onset of the "great recession" of 2008, and it is possible that the project was government subsidized in order to generate jobs and more affordable energy for the area. I myself recall the promise of President Obama that he would invest and promote the development of more clean energy projects and renewables in the country; perhaps a president for once kept at least a small part of a promise he made while campaigning. 

          The landscape of this particular site hardly changed upon the implementation of windmills; besides the roads laid out and the individual mills themselves, the land looks essentially the same as before they were there. There is notable soil compaction, erosion, and general deterioration around each windmill site as well as along the roads. The interspace, however, looks exactly as it did prior to the wind farm's installation. 

         The site of the wind farm is strategically placed in north central Oregon, just south of the blustery gorge, and also closely affiliated with the palouse prairie of southeastern Washington. The plains of the northern part of the Great Basin generate limitless winds as the desert air continually heats, raises, and sucks in cold air to take its place. In addition, the sheer size of the plains allow the winds to move across the landscaped unchallenged by any topographic barriers, and can therefore attain high speed and force.