1. Ben Rushwald CEE 424 Final Project
Site Selection and GIS Analysis of Potential Wind Farms in Washington State
Ben Rushwald
CEE 424
Final Project

2. Utility Scale Wind Turbines
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
Vehicle

3. 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

4. Analysis Gathered layers for all restrictions
Good wind speed data is important
DEM data is raster
All others layers are vector data

5. Analysis, cont Vector polygon created of elevations under 2000ft
A polygon of areas with wind speeds of class 4 or greater was created

6. Analysis, cont Other restrictions displayed and buffered
These areas removed from the wind speed polygon
Current Wind Farms Identified

7. Results Potential Wind Site
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