A unit of a Houston-based renewable energy company is proposing to build a 182-megawatt wind-turbine electrical generation facility near Ellensburg in Central Washington.


The unit, Sagebrush Power Partners LLC, in January submitted an application to the Washington state Energy Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) to construct and operate the facility. EFSEC oversees major energy-facility construction in the state. A public information meeting is slated for March 12 in Ellensburg, and an environmental impact statement on the project will be required, EFSEC says.


Sagebrush is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zilkha Renewable Energy, of Houston.


The proposed project would be built in Kittitas County, on the ridges on both sides of state Route 97 about 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg. According to papers filed with EFSEC, it would include 121 wind-generation turbines measuring 249 feet tall with rotor diameters of 197 feet. Kittitas County is located on the edge of the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains, and is known for its sustained winds.


In addition to the turbines themselves, the project would include construction of two substations, an operations center, underground and overhead electrical lines, and access roads. No cost estimate for the project is included in the preliminary application made to EFSEC by Sagebrush.


The power generated by the facility would be fed onto one of two big transmission lines that pass through the project property, one operated by Puget Sound Energy and the other by the Bonneville Power Administration.


Sagebrush would install about 23 miles of underground power lines and two miles of overhead, 34.5 kilovolt lines, both of which would collect power generated by the turbines and carry it to the substations.


The 90-acre property where the project is proposed is owned either privately or by the Washington state Department of Natural Resources, according to the filing.