Why Montana? It’s windy! PGE works in partnership with developers to harness that energy and send it home to customers in Oregon.
Engine of the northwest
Local opportunity
Working together
Big wind from Big Sky
Harnessing wind from Big Sky Country
Meet Oregon’s newest electricity source: the Clearwater Wind Energy Center. This giant wind farm turns steady winds on the vast plains of Eastern Montana into reliable power here at home.
Clearwater adds geographic diversity to our portfolio, allowing PGE to source renewable power when it's available from a variety of resource types and locations. That means more reliable power, without any emissions.
Since coming online in early 2024, Clearwater has contributed to record-high wind generation for PGE customers.
PGE sources 311 MW of energy from Clearwater. That’s enough to power about 125,000 homes.
Clearwater is operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources. During construction, the project created up to 350 jobs.
The Clearwater Wind Energy Center delivers higher levels of production in the winter and summer - periods of peak demand for Oregon customers.
One billion watts – all from wind
Clearwater is contributing to record-high wind generation for PGE customers.
On a winter day in January 2024, PGE produced a maximum output of more than 1,000 MW of wind for the first time. That’s 1 gigawatt of wind energy.
Clearwater played a big part. At the time of the milestone, Clearwater accounted for almost 30% of the total wind generation.
A milestone for wind generation
Portion of
Clearwater online
First time over 1 GW
Jan. 7 2024
Wind generation
record of 1.056 GW
Feb. 25, 2024
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Weekly wind generation maximum
How much is a gigawatt?
Since coming online, the Clearwater Wind Energy Center has continued to perform,
helping PGE hit that 1 GW threshold on at least 26 days!
1 GW (or 1,000 MW) could power…
830,000 homes
All of PGE’s residential customers
Half the homes in Oregon
All of Washington County
More than 300 hospitals
143,000 electric vehicles
17 million incandescent lightbulbs
100 million LED lightbulbs
83% of a time traveling DeLorean
A carbon-free world, for us, is tenable. Wind, hydro, battery solar, all have a place in our portfolio. Clearwater gave us a glimpse of the future.
- Darrington Outama, PGE Senior Director of Energy Supply
Our Commitment. Your Energy.
311 megawatts from 112 wind turbines, each 584 feet tall – and a team of hard workers keeping them in top condition.
Clearwater is more than just a power plant. It’s also an employer, a source of revenue for the local community, and a model of innovation in Montana’s energy landscape.
In early 2024, PGE hit a big milestone. With help from Clearwater, we generated a gigawatt of power from wind energy alone!
PGE sources 311 MW of energy from Clearwater. That’s enough to power about 125,000 homes.
Clearwater is operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources. During construction, the project created up to 350 jobs.
Power from Clearwater travels to PGE customers via existing transmission lines, and a 100-mile line connected to the Colstrip Generating Station substation.
250,000 loads of laundry
