Brookfield Renewables outlines 488 MW Saddle Butte wind project for Gilliam County

Representatives of Brookfield Renewables presented the Saddle Butte wind project to the Gilliam County Court on March 18, describing the project area, schedule, anticipated impacts and community coordination.

"Saddle Butte is a 488 megawatt wind project that we are developing here in Gilliam County," Ben Mallory, Brookfield senior manager and project manager, told the court. He said the project footprint is roughly 12,000 acres about seven miles southwest of Arlington and could include up to 69 turbines and an optional battery energy storage system.

Brookfield said it has signed an engineering-procurement agreement with BPA to facilitate an interconnection and that BPA is expected to build a substation called Diamond Butte. The company explained it is pursuing concurrent permitting: state permitting (including ODOE/FSAC processes) and the county conditional-use-permit review. Mallory said the company hopes to submit its conditional-use application in April and, if deemed complete, appear before the county planning commission in May with construction targeted for Q2 2027 and a two-year build window that could place commercial operation in Q2 2029 in parallel with the BPA substation schedule.

On environmental impacts, Brookfield said 2025 surveys produced an initial environmental record and that design choices to avoid sensitive resources currently estimate about 1,300 acres of temporary impact and roughly 150 acres of permanent disturbance. The company said it had begun cultural-resource coordination with tribes and produced a draft cultural resource report for tribal review; the firms planning to finalize and then forward for SHPO concurrence.

Brookfield addressed community concerns including wildfire, traffic and decommissioning. The company said wildfire and emergency-response plans, traffic-impact studies and housing analyses would be included in the conditional-use permit. Concerning workforce housing, Mallory cited a housing study that estimated 200'300 construction workers at peak and 10'20 full-time employees for operations; he said Brookfield had hired consultants to analyze local housing and that an EPC contractor would refine accommodation plans.

Court members probed the project schedule, road impacts and expectations for county coordination; one member asked about decommissioning and was told that a decommissioning plan is a conditional-use requirement and Brookfield is preparing that plan now. The court and Brookfield representatives agreed to continue coordination with county staff and to provide further details with the formal conditional-use application.

The presentation produced no formal county action on the project at the March 18 meeting; Brookfield representatives said more detailed project materials will follow with the conditional-use application.