Glacier Wind Farm

The Glacier Wind Farm spans southwest Glacier County and southeast Toole County in northern Montana. With a total generating capacity of 210 megawatts (MW), it became the largest wind farm in the state when the second construction phase came online at the end of 2009. A portion of the electricity is purchased by San Diego Gas and Electric.[1]

Glacier Wind Farm
Official name	Glacier Wind Farm
Country	United States
Location	Glacier and Toole County near Ethridge, Montana
Coordinates	48°30′28″N 112°05′27″W
Status	Operational
Construction began	July 2007
Commission date	Oct 2008 (phase I), Oct 2009 (phase II)
Construction cost	$500 million
Owner(s)	NaturEner
Operator(s)	NaturEner
Wind farm
Type	Onshore
Power generation
Units operational	140 turbines
Make and model	Acciona AW77 1.5 MW
Nameplate capacity	210 MW
Capacity factor	29.5% (average 2010-2019)
Annual net output	542 GW·h

Facility details

The facility is located off of U.S. Highway 2 south of the unincorporated community of Ethridge, between the cities of Cut Bank and Shelby, and spans about 25,000 acres. It was constructed in two phases by Mortenson Construction, starting with a groundbreaking celebration in July 2007.[2] The completed facility consists of 140 wind turbines and their foundations, electrical substations, maintenance buildings, access roads, underground collection lines, and overhead transmission lines.[3]

Phase I entered service in October 2008 and uses 71 Acciona 1.7 MW turbines.[4][5] Phase II came online in October 2009 and uses an additional 69 Acciona 1.7 MW turbines.[1][6] The 189 MW Rim Rock Wind Farm was subsequently completed about 15 miles to the north in 2012. In addition to the hundreds of construction jobs and millions of dollars in cumulative land lease payments and tax revenues, about 10-15 permanent local jobs were also created to maintain the facilities over their lifetime.[7]

The project was originally developed by Great Plain Wind & Energy LLC.[8] The Spanish company NaturEner, in partnership with Morgan Stanley, purchased the project in 2006, financed the construction, and continues to own and operate the facility. Performance is continuously monitored from its operations center in San Francisco.[9]

Electricity production

Glacier Wind Farm Electricity Generation (MW·h)

Year	Glacier I (106.5 MW) [10]	Glacier II (103.5 MW) [11]	Total Annual MW·h
2009	249,079	43,184*	292,263
2010	211,679	215,595	427,274
2011	308,543	321,846	630,389
2012	290,267	286,948	577,215
2013	284,762	276,187	560,949
2014	272,897	259,192	532,089
2015	260,622	258,022	518,644
2016	284,566	290,305	574,871
2017	287,367	286,219	573,586
2018	260,131	248,208	508,339
2019	254,813	264,259	519,072
Average Annual Production (years 2010-2019) --->			542,243
Average Capacity Factor (years 2010-2019) --->			29.5%

(*) partial year of operation

See also

• Wind power in Montana
• List of wind farms in the United States

References

1. LeAnne Kavanagh (October 28, 2009). "Glacier Wind Farm is state's biggest wind energy project". Shelby Promoter.
2. LeAnne Kavanagh (July 23, 2008). "NaturEner shows off $500 million Glacier Wind farm". Cut Bank Pioneer Press.
3. "Glacier Wind Farm Phase I and II". mortenson.com. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
4. Karl Puckett (October 15, 2008). "Glacier Wind Farm goes live". Great Falls Tribune.
5. "Glacier I (USA)". thewindpower.net. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
6. "Glacier II (USA)". thewindpower.net. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
7. "Rim Rock Wind Farm, Montana". Power Technology. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
8. Vicky Boyd. "NaturEner respects nature with Montana wind project". enerG (July/Aug 2013). Retrieved April 30, 2019.
9. "NaturEner Operations Center". NaturEner. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
10. "Glacier I, Annual". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
11. "Glacier II, Annual". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved April 30, 2019.

External links

• Glacier Wind Project