Site Selection and GIS Analysis of Potential Wind Farms in Washington State

Ben RushwaldCEE 424Final Project

Utility Scale Wind Turbines

Vehicle

• Source of renewable energy

• Growing industry and source of energy

• harness kinetic energy of the wind

•Is becoming more and more price competitive with traditional sources of energy

SITE RESTRICTIONS

• Wind Class of 4 or greater On a scale of 1 to 7

• The turbines CAN NOT be placed In mountainous rugged regions Within 5 miles of urban areas In National Parks

Analysis• Gathered layers for all restrictions

• Good wind speed data is important

• DEM data is raster

• All others layers are vector data

Analysis, cont• Vector polygon created of elevations under 2000ft

• A polygon of areas with wind speeds of class 4 or greater was created

Analysis, cont

• Other restrictions displayed and buffered

• These areas removed from the wind speed polygon

•Current Wind Farms Identified

Results• Located areas in Washington state where the wind speed is the greatest• Looked at tribal land for potential sites for potential income• The Columbia River has highest wind speeds

-Many farms already located there

•Potential near Ellensburg•Smaller potential near South Bend

Potential Wind Site