The San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm is a wind farm

Wind farm

A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

 located on the eastern slope of the San Gorgonio Pass

San Gorgonio Pass

The San Gorgonio Pass el. cuts between the San Bernardino Mountains on the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. Like the Cajon Pass to the northwest, it was also created by the San Andreas Fault...

 in Riverside County

Riverside County, California

Riverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. One of 58 California counties, it covers in the southern part of the state, and stretches from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the state border with Arizona. The county derives its name from the city of Riverside,...

, just east of White Water, California

White Water, California

Whitewater is a census-designated place in Riverside County, California. It is directly off Interstate 10 halfway between North Palm Springs and Cabazon on the way from Palm Springs to Los Angeles. It is known as the site of the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm. The ZIP Code is 92282, and the...

, United States. Developed beginning in the 1980s, it is one of three major wind farms in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, along with those at Altamont

Altamont Pass Wind Farm

The Altamont Pass Wind Farm is located in the Altamont Pass of the Diablo Range in Central California. It is one of the earliest wind farms in the United States. The wind farm is composed of 4930 relatively small wind turbines of various types, making it at one time the largest farm in the world in...

 and the Tehachapi

Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm

Wind development in the Tehachapi Pass began in the early 1980s. The area hosts a multitude of wind farms, comprising one of California's largest wind resource areas. The pass is undergoing much repowering activity...

 passes. The gateway into the Coachella Valley

Coachella Valley

Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...

, the San Gorgonio Pass is one of the windiest places in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

.

Utilities

As of January 2008, the farm consists of 3,218 units delivering 615 MW. A single Southern California Edison

Southern California Edison

Southern California Edison , the largest subsidiary of Edison International , is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 14 million people with electricity...

 Path 46

Path 46

Path 46, also called West of Colorado River, Arizona-California West-of-the-River Path , is a set of many alternating current high-voltage transmission lines that are located in southeast California and Nevada up to the Colorado River...

 500 kV

Volt

The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...

 power line

Electric power transmission

Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers...

 crosses the pass on the northern edge of San Jacinto Peak. This line links the Los Angeles metro area with the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant.

History and governance

Wind energy development in the San Gorgonio Pass area was formally studied through the San Gorgonio Wind Resource Study EIR (1982), a joint environmental document prepared for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Riverside County. The document assessed three scenarios for wind energy development in the area, and included criteria for the development of wind energy on both a countywide basis and specifically for the San Gorgonio Pass area. Since 1982, and the approval of wind energy development in the San Gorgonio Pass, numerous wind turbines have become part of the landscape. The narrow turbines range from 80 to 160 feet in height.

Involvement with ExxonMobil

In August 1997 ExxonMobil and Southern California Edison jointly constructed a combination oil refinery and storage facility. The plant continues to operate as a refinery while at the same time storing a healthy oil reserve. The refinery and storage facility works in tandem with the wind farm to utilize the energy created in the necessary processes in the refinery process.

See also

• Wind power in California
  Wind power in California
  Wind power in California has been an area of considerable activity for many years. California was the first U.S. state where large wind farms were developed, beginning in the early 1980s. By 1995, California produced 30 percent of the entire world's wind-generated electricity...
  
  
• Wind power in the United States
  Wind power in the United States
  As of the third quarter of 2011, the cumulative installed capacity of wind power in the United States was 43,461 megawatts , making it second in the world, behind China. In 2010 wind power accounted for 2.3% of the electricity generated in the United States...
  
  
• List of onshore wind farms