An out of state utility company has signed a 25 year contract to purchase energy from a wind farm being built in Central Montana.
Washington state utility company, Puget Sound Energy, has signed a contract with a Montana wind farm to generate enough energy to power 116,000 homes every year.
The 315 megawatts of electricity will come from a planned wind farm near Two Dot run by Clearway Energy Group. The company is in the planning stages and expects it to be operational by 2028. All power generated from that facility will be sent to Washington state.
This move is the latest in the utility’s transition away from fossil-fuel based energy sources.
Washington state law requires all state-based utilities to stop sourcing energy from coal by 2025. Puget Sound Energy was previously the largest owner of the coal-fired power plant in Colstrip.
The utility also has contracts with the Clearwater Wind Farm in Rosebud County, and the Beaver Creek Wind Farm in Stillwater County. With the addition of the Two Dot facility, Puget Sound will eventually have 913 megawatts of wind-generated electricity coming from Montana.
According to the Clearway Energy Group, this new wind farm will provide millions of dollars in landowner payments, and over $100 million dollars in property tax revenue to the state of Montana over the life of the project.
