Top 10 News Stories of the Year

In late May, Portland Gen­eral Electric Company announced that it would purchase a portion of the development rights for the Lower Snake River Wind Energy Project in Columbia County from Puget Sound Energy. The new project, now called the Tucannon River Wind Farm, will in­clude 116 wind turbines, and have a “nameplate capacity” of 267 megawatts. The sale closed in early August and PGE began construction of roads and other infrastructure in Sep­tember. PGE opened a new office in Downtown Dayton.

The project is expected to begin operation in 2015. Total cost will be approximately $500 million. Approximately 300 construction workers are expected to be hired, and PGE says the project will employ 18 full-time workers, after it is operational.