The Roads to Carbon Neutral - Season 4 - Episode 7 - Winds of Change: The Positive Impact of the Cedar Creek Wind Farm

Akisha Hernandez, Strategic Asset Manager, TotalEnergies: I grew up in a military family living in a small town just kind of like this. When you’re in a space that feels somewhat isolated, communities, small towns like that, develop a sense of closeness that’s really hard to find somewhere else. So it’s really difficult to come in as someone who’s new with new ideas and start making changes. That’s why with the development of this wind project, it was very important for Clearway to work with the community so they understood that it wasn’t just about making renewable energy, this would create jobs and that their local community would flourish.

For us to be successful at achieving the challenge of the energy transition, it’s going to take many different kinds of partnerships. Two years ago, TotalEnergies acquired half of Clearway Energy, which is one of the largest renewable companies in the US. And the Cedar Creek Wind project has been a great example that demonstrates how together we’ve been able to move faster and make more progress. Idaho is very picturesque. There’s so much green space. When you’re installing dozens of turbines that are more than 400ft tall, it becomes a part of the landscape. It was really critical and important for Clearway to engage with the community.

Matt Thompson, landowner: Nobody lives closer to the project than I do. And the wind hasn’t been a big concern. Very minimal sound. Made my ranch way more accessible to me. We’re able to use it for grazing, to move the cattle around more effectively with the roads they put in.

Akisha Hernandez: The total investment in the Cedar Creek wind project has been $250 million, and it’s created over 175 jobs. At the heart of the energy transition is successful partnerships. We have to do this together.

Kyle Mang, Plant Manager, Clearway Energy Group: We really tried to make an effort to use local materials, local vendors, local equipment, to try and reinforce that community partnership that we have here. We have 47 towers. That gives us capacity to generate over 150 MW. And that’s enough to power about 41,000 homes. Cedar Creek is sited perfectly on top of, you know, the hills and in the valleys, it kind of funnels in the wind. Now, the remoteness of Cedar Creek presented a lot of its own challenges, building roads up here, getting the foundations dug on frozen ground and erecting towers amid heavy snowfall. Especially getting all the materials up here. It was quite the feat for us to get done.

Akisha Hernandez: So often in my life, I’ve felt what it’s like to be the only something, right? The only woman, and the only person of color, the only engineer in a space. Building bridges and becoming a part of the community has been my way of managing that.

How’s it been for things in the community since the Cedar Creek project started up?

Basil Morris, Superintendent, Firth School District: So, yeah, I think that there’s been some great conversations. At the beginning of the project we had a lot of donations from Cedar Creek Project, coats and gloves and hats and supplies. There will be some benefits for us as a school district financially. We’ve made some plans with them to have their engineers and people from the project come and speak with our kids, talk to them about careers.

Akisha Hernandez: So it sounds like Clearway has been a pretty good neighbor.

Basil Morris: Yeah, they have.

Akisha Hernandez: We talk about the road to carbon neutral as if there is one road to carbon neutral. And there isn’t. There are many different ways to get there. Whatever path we take, we need to make sure that we are taking that path together with our communities, with the partners that we have, with our neighbors. We have to take it together so that no one and absolutely no one gets left behind. It’s only by working together that I believe we’ll see great progress.