REDDING – Two of California’s traffic safety partners, the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans, are teaming up to drive home an important message to all motorists traveling in the north state this summer. There are 44 wind turbines that will be transported to the Hatchet Ridge Wind Farm near Burney starting May 24, 2010 and continuing through the end of July.
Each wind turbine is made up of eight main components, some up to 185 feet long. Large parts will be delivered daily to the wind farm site on up to eight oversize-load trucks, some requiring CHP escort. Trucks from the Gerber, California rail yard and from the Nevada State Line will begin transport in the early mornings, every day except weekends and holidays. There will be no transports on Friday, May 28 and Monday, May 31, due to the Memorial Day holiday.
From Gerber, the transports will head north on I-5 to Redding, and then turn east on SR 299 to the Hatchet Ridge site. From the Nevada State Line, the transports will head north on US 395, through Susanville, and then take SR 36 to SR 44 to SR 89 to SR 299 and west to the Hatchet Ridge site.
In various locations there will be intermittent traffic control and CHP escort. Motorists are advised these loads will be traveling through these areas and should be prepared for localized delays.
Background
The wind turbines, manufactured by Siemens, will generate power equivalent to the amount of energy needed to serve nearly 44,000 California homes annually. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will purchase the power, including the renewable attributes, under a 15-year power purchase agreement. Hatchet Ridge will create approximately 100 to 200 construction jobs over the next year and 6 – 8 permanent jobs during operations.
According to information from Pattern Energy, the owner of the wind farm, the electricity produced annually by the wind turbines at Hatchet Ridge will offset more than 80,000 tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere, or the equivalent of 12,000 cars per year, and will conserve 34,204,470 gallons of water each year that would normally be consumed by traditional methods of conventional generation.
For more information about the wind turbine moves, go to the Caltrans District 2 web page created specifically for this project at http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist2/turbines.htm. Sign up on Twitter to receive updates about the moves at http://www.twitter.com/gowindturbines.
This press release is available electronically at www.caltrans2.info.
