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Developer introduces 'Odyssey' wind project; asks to explore county right‑of‑way use
Summary
A Cordelio Power developer introduced the proposed Odyssey Wind project and requested the court’s cooperation on using county road right‑of‑ways for transmission interconnection; she said the team has signed roughly 30,000 acres in southern Gilliam County and that permitting has not yet begun.
Annabelle O'Neil, a wind energy developer with Cordelio Power, told Gilliam County Court on Dec. 18 that the company is in early planning for the Odyssey Wind project and would like to partner with the county on right‑of‑way access for electrical interconnection.
"My name's Annabelle O'Neil. I am a wind energy developer with Cordelio Power," she said, identifying Cordelio as a firm with about 132 employees and financial backing from the Canada Pension Plan. O'Neil said the company owns and operates projects through their full operating life and is currently signing leases with landowners for a southern Gilliam County project area.
O'Neil said the team has roughly 30,000 acres under lease so far and described a target planning area of about 50,000–60,000 acres from which a project layout would be refined based on willing landowners. She said interconnection to the grid is a planning challenge and that one option under consideration is installing monopole transmission towers in existing county road right‑of‑ways to reach a BPA transmission line. "We're so early. We don't know the specifics," O'Neil said, "but basically we want to partner with y'all to figure out some viable option to use the road right of ways that are already there to get access to one of the transmission lines."
Commissioners asked whether permitting had been submitted; O'Neil replied she had not filed state permitting and that the group expects to do potential wildlife studies such as bird counts in spring as part of early planning. She offered her contact information and encouraged commissioners and landowners to raise concerns so the developers can address them as planning proceeds.
Next steps: Commissioners requested more details on permitting and interconnection plans before taking formal action. The developer said she expects a county right‑of‑way hearing in January; the court did not take any action on the request during the meeting.
