(The Center Square) – On Thursday afternoon, project developers behind the planned Horse Heaven wind and solar project in Benton County signed off on the final site certification.
A news release from Scout Clean Energy emailed to The Center Square said, in part, “Scout Clean Energy (Scout), a national utility-scale renewable energy developer-owner-operator, is pleased to announce it has signed the Site Certification Agreement (SCA) for the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center issued by the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) following Governor Inslee’s approval. The signing marks the culmination of an extensive, multi-year permitting process and allows Scout to continue moving forward toward the construction of the largest clean energy project in Washington State history.”
This latest decision comes in spite of efforts to stop the massive wind turbine and solar project, or scale it back.
Both Benton County and Tri-Cities CARES are against Gov. Jay Inslee’s decision last month approving the site certification agreement and county commissioners unanimously voted to move forward with a lawsuit against the governor. In the past, the Yakama Nation has also objected to the wind farm project as planned.
In the meantime, there are several other wind and solar projects moving forward across the state that face resistance from local planners and community members.
One of those is the Wallula Gap Solar Farm proposed near the community of Plymouth, west of its intersection with Interstate 82.
According to the EFSEC, the project could cover approximately 1,220 acres of solar panels strung together, tilting to maximize sun exposure and energy output throughout the day.
On Wednesday, during an EFSEC hearing where several clean energy projects were discussed, staff conveyed to council members that the Wallula Gap Project doesn’t fit zoning for the region.
EFSEC staffer John Barnes brought up an April 23, 2024, public hearing on land use consistency.
“Following that hearing, a land use order of inconsistency for the application was developed in conjunction with the administrative law judge, our assistant attorneys general and staff,” Barnes said.
Following his brief comments, EFSEC members voted in favor of the order and the project’s next step will be adjudication, where those zoning issues will be debated.
During a Thursday interview, Greg Wendt, director of community development for Benton County, told The Center Square he and other planners are frustrated with EFSEC.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years or so and I’ve never seen a state agency have such an impact on local communities,” Wendt said.
He continued, “A lot of these projects are being located in our agricultural lands and we have it designated that way and we have a planning community that develops these plans and policies and those are consistent with the state Growth Management Act.”
Wendt explained the county occasionally allow projects that are not agricultural in those areas zoned for agriculture only.
“They are sometimes allowed at a very small scale which is an acre or maybe two acres in size, but these projects take up hundreds of even thousands of acres in many instances,” he said. “We do encourage them in our industrial zones, but the state is preempting our local regulations and in essence saying they’re not going to follow the county’s regulations.”
Other Benton County clean energy projects are also moving ahead despite regional opposition.
“Through the Wautoma process, we argued against the project to uphold our county land use regulations and as it was discussed they did choose to preempt the county’s land use regulations and forward a positive recommendation for the Wautoma project to the governor,” Wendt said.
The Wautoma project encompasses approximately 5,852 acres outside Sunnyside, with a 470-megawatt solar generation facility.
As previously reported by The Center square, the company behind the long debated massive Horse Heaven Hills Wind Farm project had until Dec. 1 to respond to the finalized agreement from Gov. Inslee.
The Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center is a proposed wind, solar, and battery storage project located on private land south of the Tri-Cities. The project is proposed to generate up to 1,150 megawatts of renewable energy.
