Casper — For the past 14 years they have loomed over the landscape of northeastern Casper, once the symbol of the county’s first step into green energy. Now some say they are just an eyesore.
The blades of the 11 240-feet high, 450,000-pound turbines haven’t caught the wind for a few years.
Casper resident Terry Wingerter said he was one of the Natrona County commissioners who approved the initial project in 2009. He wishes now he would have voted differently on the wind farm.
“They were the first towers in this area, and we had several neighborhood meetings out there,” he said. “Some of the neighbors were terribly against it and some of the others just didn’t care. It was the first one in this area so we voted for them.”
The wind turbines were erected on the north side of the North Platte River across from where the old Texaco refinery once stood. Wingerter said both the EPA and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality considered the entire area contaminated from the refinery operations over six decades.
Wingerter said there was not much that the company could do out there but put up the towers.
At the EPA’s website, it states that entire site of the refinery’s footprint needed cleanup. The 880-acre area north of the river had evaporation ponds used to treat refinery wastewater that contained polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons that did not require removal but were designated as a “Use Control Area” to restrict the property’s future use.
The Pitch
Chevron’s President Greg Vesey in 2009 called the project “an excellent opportunity and location for the company’s first wholly owned wind facility, but the Casper Wind Farm also brings the former refinery site back into energy production with renewable energy.”
Wingerter said the initial pitch to the community was that the wind farm would send its electricity to the Dave Johnston Power Plant between Glenrock and Douglas.
“Now they haven’t been used for I don’t know how long, I am guessing three years,” he said. “Now it’s an eyesore, if you ask me.”
The EPA website states that Chevron had secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) “with the local utility, Rocky Mountain Power, for the electricity it would generate.”
“PPAs significantly reduce the risk associated with renewable energy projects by creating a long-term market for the electricity generated,” the EPA website states on its Casper Wind Farm page.
Rocky Mountain Power spokesperson David Eskelsen said the Casper Wind Farm project previously had a power purchase agreement with PacifiCorp, but when it came time for renewal, “the project owner elected not to renew.” He also said that any power the wind farm or other generation projects produce do not go to specific locations, such as the Dave Johnston plant. The PacifiCorp transmission system would make the energy available to customers virtually anywhere on PacifiCorp’s system.
Wingerter said he was invited to a meeting about three months ago by Chevron in Evansville, where company representatives talked about getting the wind turbines operational. But he said it’s hard to know if that’s going to happen.
A Letter
The Natrona County Attorney’s Office received notice from Chevron in a letter Sept. 4 that its turbines are no longer operating.
“By this letter Chevron notifies the commission that as of Aug. 31, 2024, the Casper Wind Farm is in partial non-operation,” wrote Gregory Germani, the general manager of operations for Chevron Pipeline and Power. “Partial non-operation occurred because there are transmission constraints and firm transmission service in not available to transmit power generated at Casper Wind Farm.”
Partial non-operation is defined as occurring when less than 50% of the turbine towers generate electricity that is transmitted off the site for eight consecutive months.
The company wrote that it is registering the wind farm as a resource under the Western Energy Market and “expects” to resume operations by the end of the year.
The company initially received a conditional use permit from the county commission Feb. 3, 2009, for operation of the 11 1.5-megawatt turbines.
Current Natrona County Commission Chairman Peter Nicolaysen said he was unaware of the letter to the county attorney and would investigate it. He said he was contacted by Chevron officials and its Nebraska-based consultant Monte McKillip about 18 months ago and had heard from then-Evansville Mayor Chad Edwards about some concerns due to the wind farm’s inactivity.
Odd Meeting
He said the Chevron representatives then had “zero update” and “zero information whether they were going to turn it on and when.”
“They alluded to something about not being able to sell the power to Rocky Mountain Power,” he said. “I think they alluded to something about, ‘Well, if you don’t have a place to sell the power …’ That was all they would say. They weren’t able to answer any questions. It was a complete waste of my time.”
Nicolaysen said it seemed to him that the company was checking a box to say that it had met with the county.
“It was one of the odder (meetings) I’ve had in my time as a commissioner,” he said.
When contacted, McKillip said he would not be the best spokesperson on the status of the wind farm. Attempts to reach other Chevron officials were not responded to by the time this story was posted.
As a local resident and attorney in 2009, Nicolaysen said he remembers the controversy surrounding the initial construction of the development and as a ranch owner in the region saw the windmills operate, cease operation, operate intermittently and then stop altogether about four years ago.
Nicolyasen said the wind farm whether operating or not still has to pay property taxes.
“If I were a neighbor or landowner, I wouldn’t want it to just be sitting there,” he said. “It’s one of those things where we are not anti-wind, but we are also not anti-wind energy regulation. I think it would be better for the community if it were operating or if it were decommissioned.
The county treasurer’s office was not able to immediately supply the taxes paid by the wind farm.
State Rep. Forrest Chadwick, R-Casper, whose House District 62 includes the wind farm, said he has not heard complaints from constituents on the issue but believes the company needs to do something other than allow the wind turbines to sit idle in the wind.
“They either need to go back in operation or tear them down,” he said. “It’s that simple.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
