Rocky Mountain Power, an affiliate of the American utility PacifiCorp, has unveiled four new wind power projects in Wyoming with a combined capacity of 1,300 MW. The four projects have been selected through a competitive bidding process after the issuance of a Request for proposal (RFP) in September 2017.
They are expected to require a total investment of US$1.5bn and are spread across several locations: 400 MW of wind capacity will be built in Converse County (to be built by NextEra Energy Resources), 161 MW in Uinta County (to be built by Invenergy), 500 MW in Carbon and Albany County and 250 MW in Carbon County (both to be built by PacifiCorp). They will increase Rocky Mountain's wind power capacity by 60% once completed.
The four wind parks will fit into PacifiCorp's long-term Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which was announced in April 2017. The company announced a US$3.5bn expansion plan up to 2020 and over 3 GW of additional capacity are expected up to 2036. This amount includes 1,300 MW of new wind projects and namely in Wyoming by 2020, 85 MW in Wyoming and 774 in Idaho between 2028 and 2036, and 1,040 additional solar capacity to be constructed between 2028 and 2036.
PacifiCorp is present in six American states and consists of two business units: Pacific Power which is present in Oregon, Washington and California and Rocky Mountain Power, present in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.