Puget Sound Energy building two massive wind energy projects in Montana

RAPELJE — As Montana citizens and groups pressure the state’s largest public utility, NorthWestern Energy, to add more renewable energy to its portfolio while the company continues pushing a series of natural-gas power plants, a Washington-based utility is building an expansive wind farm that will send power to the Seattle area. Puget Sound Energy is also contracting with an energy developer for another project, and has a third project on the drawing board as a possibility.

In addition to building its own facility, Puget Sound Energy on Tuesday announced that it had signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Clearway Energy Group for a 315-megawatt wind farm under development in Wheatland and Meagher counties in Montana.

That additional power buy by Puget Sound Energy will satisfy about 15% of what the utility company needs to meet Washington’s 2030 clean energy targets, the company said. Clearway is one of the largest clean energy developers in the world with more than 11.5 gigawatts of solar, storage and wind. Construction on the wind farm is expected to start in June 2026, and the project is slated to go online in 2028.

Meanwhile, Puget Sound Energy is building a wind farm near Rapelje, about an hour west of Billings, that will be capable of generating 248 megawatts, enough to power more than 83,000 houses. The Beaver Creek wind project will help the company meet Washington’s aggressive clean-energy laws.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/07/24/puget-sound-energy-building-two-massive-wind-energy-projects-in-montana/