The Desert Claim Wind Power project will create 282 jobs and generate more than $33 million in new economic activity throughout Washington state in the year it is constructed, according to study estimates by ECONorthwest.
Once in operation, Desert Claim will create 36 jobs and $6.2 million in new economic activity statewide annually, the study also estimates. Economic activity includes all purchases of goods and services, payroll and income from jobs generated by the wind farm's construction and operation.
Desert Claim, which would consist of 95 wind turbines with an expected generating capacity of 190 MW, would be located on 5,200 acres of rural land crossed by three major transmission lines. It is being developed by enXco, which submitted a revised application to the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council in February.
‘Our study shows that the Desert Claim project will have a significant impact on the economy, particularly during the construction phase,’ says Stephen Grover, a managing director at the economics consulting firm ECONorthwest and author of the Desert Claim statewide economic impact study. ‘With Washington's unemployment rate currently above nine percent, Desert Claim will help sustain jobs in the hard-hit construction sector and create new renewable energy jobs once the wind farm is in operation.’
Grover and other experts will testify on the project July 13 in Ellensburg, Wash., when the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council holds its adjudicatory hearing.
According to the study, the construction phase of the project will increase the state's wage income by more than $12 million and business income by more than $2 million. Once in operation, the study estimates Desert Claim will increase the state's wage income by $1.9 million annually.
The study was commissioned and funded by enXco.
For more information, visit efsec.wa.
SOURCES: ECONorthwest, enXco
