A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Wheatridge wind farm
seeks bigger turbine blades
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
NextEra
Energy
Resources wants taller
blades on turbines at its
Wheatridge Wind Energy
Facility sites in Umatilla
and Morrow counties.
NextEra, based in Flor-
ida, bought the develop-
ment rights for the 292-tur-
bine wind farm in June
2017. The project would
produce a maximum of
500 megawatts of power on
almost 13,100 acres sepa-
rated into two sites — the
west turbine group about
7 miles northwest of Hep-
pner and the east turbine
group which spans the bor-
der of Morrow and Uma-
tilla counties.
NextEra in early April
told the Oregon Depart-
ment of Energy it wants to
use larger blades on its tur-
bines. Company spokes-
person Steve Stengel said
the blades would boost the
height of the turbines from
476 feet to a maximum
of 500 feet. The larger
blades increase the abil-
ity to capture the wind, he
said, and thus mean greater
efficiency.
The company also wants
to build a 20 megawatt bat-
tery storage site at Wheat-
ridge East and a 30 mega-
watt battery storage site at
Wheatridge West. Sten-
gel said the storage units
would fit into the proj-
ect’s existing footprint.
NextEra in the April 6 let-
ter stated the structures
would have a neutral-col-
ored finish to blend into the
surroundings.
Overall,
NextEra
asserted in the letter, the
changes are not signifi-
cant, and thus asked the
energy department to con-
duct a “Type B review”
of recommended changes
to the site certificate. That
review process is faster and
does not include a public
hearing.
The energy department
replied April 25 and stated
it “considers the proposed
modifications to be com-
plex” and thus warrant the
longer, more stringent Type
A review that includes a
public hearing.
The battery storage sys-
tems are new components,
the reply continued, which
the department’s Energy
Facility Siting Council has
not evaluated. The state
also noted NextEra did not
provide information about
potential adverse effects
from the storage sys-
tems, “particularly related
to impacts and fire safety
risk.”
The ball now is in Nex-
tEra’s court. Stengel said
the company will continue
to work with the depart-
ment of energy and provide
the information it requests.
Construction of Wheat-
ridge has yet to begin. Nex-
tEra has until May 2020 to
break ground and then three
years to finish. Stengel said
the longer review process
means a greater cost to the
company but should not
push back construction.
Umatilla County in
2015 opposed the wind
farm because Wheatridge
Wind Energy’s prelimi-
nary application to the Ore-
gon Department of Energy
and the Energy Facil-
ity Siting Council did not
address where it would
install transmission lines.
The county paid $22,608 to
Kellington Law Group of
Lake Oswego to review the
case and defend the coun-
ty’s position of including
the installation.
County counsel Doug
Olsen and the county’s
former planning director,
Tamra Mabbott, now with
the city of Umatilla, sug-
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018
BUSINESS
gested the county seek the
outside advice. Olsen said
the money covered about
a week’s worth of work
from the law firm, but once
the siting council decided
Wheatridge did not have
to include powerline place-
ment in the plan, the coun-
ty’s fight was finished.
Commissioner
George
Murdock agreed. After
that, he said, there was no
use pursuing the matter.
Much of the discussion
concerning
Wheatridge
and those powerlines took
place in public meetings
and public hearings. But
deciding to drop the matter
did not.
Mabbott at that time
told the commissioners the
county would seek reim-
bursement for the law-
yer fees from the Oregon
Department of Energy.
Instead, Wheatridge will
pay that tab.
Under the strategic
investment plan the county
and Wheatridge worked
out in September 2017, the
company will pay property
taxes on the first $25 mil-
lion in real market value of
the project, a community
service fee up to $500,000
a year for 15 years, and
local improvement pay-
ments of $150,000 a year
for 15 years. Wheatridge
also has to cut a $22,607
check to cover the county’s
lawyer fees.
Olsen said none of that
money comes in, however,
until after the wind farm is
operational.
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Depot nominated for Opportunity Zone tax incentive
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
As the Columbia Devel-
opment Authority contin-
ues to work toward getting
the former Umatilla Chem-
ical Depot returned to local
control, the state has nom-
inated the Umatilla County
side of the depot for a tax
incentive program known
as an opportunity zone.
The designation —
which still needs final
approval from the federal
government — would offer
some federal tax abate-
ments on capital gains to
developers building in the
zone.
Melisa Drugge of Busi-
ness Oregon updated the
CDA board during a meet-
ing Tuesday. She said
while developers Busi-
ness Oregon worked with
said the designation prob-
ably wouldn’t be the tip-
ping point for whether they
chose to build on a certain
site, it is another “tool in the
toolbox” for the CDA once
it takes control of industrial
land on the depot and works
to market it.
“It never hurts to have
it,” she said.
The federal Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act of 2017 allows
states to nominate up to 25
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
A line of storage igloos in G block at the Umatilla Chemical
Depot.
percent of land in “low-in-
come census tracts” for
the federal government to
approve for an opportunity
zone. The Morrow County
side of the depot does not
fall into a low-income cen-
sus tract.
Port of Morrow general
manager Gary Neal said
in his experience the zone
would be of interest to only
select types of companies
with past experience on
similar abatements.
Most of Tuesday’s CDA
meeting took place behind
closed doors in executive
session, but CDA direc-
tor Greg Smith gave a
brief update to the board
first, noting that one of the
required public hearings
for the Resource Conser-
vation and Recovery Act
environmental permit the
depot needs before trans-
fer was taking place later
in the day. The permit is
one of a few barriers left
to transferring portions of
the depot from Army con-
trol to the CDA. Another
is negotiations over pres-
ervation or mitigation
of historical and cultur-
ally sensitive sites on the
property.
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