Making a Difference: Ocotillo Wind Farm

“As we continue in making this carbon footprint in our world, we want to reduce that. So it’s called sustainability” says Tracy Rascoe, the Assistant Facility Manger at Pattern Energy (Octotillo Wind Farm). They’re hard to miss, all 112 of them. At 450 feet from the ground to the blade tips, these turbines at Pattern Energy are changing the future of renewable energy in the Imperial Valley and San Diego. Serving 125,000 Southern California homes, this low impact Ocotillo Wind Farm is economically beneficial, and saves residents millions every year in energy costs. Tracy gave News 11 a tour, and tells us it’s important to save residents money, but its also just as important surrounding wildlife, and the 10,000 year old history of Ocotillo’s Desert valley. “We have a state-of-the-art biological tower that we man 365 days a year, looking for the Golden Eagle. If we do see a Golden Eagle, our operator can actually curtail our turbines to shut them down. We spend millions of dollars to help assist the Big Horn Sheep and we also have areas for enhancing other species like the Burrowing Owl” says Tracy. Pattern Energy is also committed to utilizing local partnerships to help build strong and more vibrant community where they operate, and partnering with the Imperial Valley Community Foundation. Tracy says, “We donate to moneys to the Desert Museum. We also have a community fund that has three different elements including education and environmental impacts. We support Veterans.” But the most important element of this operation, despite what some many consider an eye soar, is sustainability. “As we continue to consume and grow we need more power. We can either us not so clean power or we can use cleaner power. Not everybody is going to agree that its beautiful, but at the end of the day when we go home, we want our food to be cool or warm, we want our house to be cool or warm depending on the season, and we want to be able to turn that switch on. If that didn’t happen, they may not be such an eye soar.”