Umatilla County
Land Use Planning
Wind Energy
Most Popular
Contact Info
Department of Land Use Planning
216 SE 4th Street
Pendleton, OR 97801
541-278-6252
planning@co.umatilla.or.us
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Location
Umatilla County Courthouse
216 SE Fourth Street
Pendleton, Or 97801
Info: 541-276-7111
Court s:541-278-0341
The Courthouse is open 8 am. to 5 pm. Mon. through Fri.
Brief History on Wind Energy
Wind has been around a long time! Since ancient times, people
have harnessed the winds energy. Over
5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians used wind to sail ships on the
Nile River. Later, people built windmills to grind wheat and other
grains. The earliest known windmills were in Persia (Iran). These early
windmills looked like large paddle wheels. Centuries later, the people
of Holland improved the basic design of the windmill. They gave it
propeller-type blades, still made with sails. Holland is famous for its
windmills.
American colonists used windmills to grind wheat and corn, to pump water, and to cut wood at sawmills. As late as the 1920s, Americans used small windmills to generate electricity in rural areas without electric service. When power lines began to transport electricity to rural areas in the 1930s, local windmills were used less and less, though they can still be seen on some Western ranches.
The oil shortages of the 1970s changed the energy picture for the country and the world. It created an interest in alternative energy sources, paving the way for the re-entry of the windmill to generate electricity. In the early 1980s wind energy really took off in California, partly because of state policies that encouraged renewable energy sources. Support for wind development has since spread to other states, but California still produces more than twice as much wind energy as any other state.
Like old fashioned windmills, today's wind machines use blades to collect the winds kinetic energy. Windmills work because they slow down the speed of the wind. The wind flows over the airfoil shaped blades causing lift, like the effect on airplane wings, causing them to turn. The blades are connected to a drive shaft that turns an electric generator to produce electricity.
With the new wind machines, there is still the problem of what to do
when the wind isn't blowing. At those times, other types of power
plants must be used to make electricity.
<>Combine Hills Wind Project, Umatilla County, Oregon
PLEASE NOTE: The
material
dealing with the COSNER v UMATILLA COUNTY LUBA Appeal of the local
Ordinance 2011-05, 2011-06 and 2011-07 has been moved to the Land
Use
Hearings page.
Planning Commission Work Sessions 2009
The
June
25
and
the
July 23, 2009 Planning Commission Meeting Presentation.
Presentations given at the October 22, 2009 PC Work Session are in
PDF format:
Wind
Power
Development
Fish
Concerns
10-09 by Gary James, CTUIR.
Wind Power Siting Considerations 10-22-09 by UBWC
Umatilla
County Wind Power - Wildlife Considerations, ODFW
Overlapping Watershed Concers, Bob Bauer,
Senior Hydrologist, Walla Walla Watershed Council.
County Wind Projects Map
Umatilla County has many existing wind projects that have been
developed over the past 10 + years. with many more in the wings.
The approval process for wind energy projects and associated
transmission lines is outlined in the County Development Code.
Wind
Energy Map (Revision: March 2011)
showing current wind projects, met towers and other features of
Umatilla County, Oregon.
Met Tower Listing, updated March 2011. Meteorological Towers are placed on a property to determine the qualities of the wind through a given period of time. Met Towers are placed on a property for up to 2 years to measure wind quality, frequency, etc.