Tehachapi – about 180 kilometres north of Los Angeles - hosts about 5,000 turbines producing more than 1.4 trillion watt hours of electricity from over 700 megawatts of capacity.

Western Wind will buy the 30-year-old Windridge Generating Facility from the Southern California Edison Company for about $C1 million, the British Columbia-based company announced recently.

The purchase follows the company securing power purchase agreements equal to 155MW of power with three North American utilities.

“In addition to Western Wind having executed over $C800 million in long-term power purchase agreements with three major utilities, the Woodridge asset provides immediate cash flow to the company and highlights our position as a producing wind energy company,” Western Wind president Jeffrey Ciachurski said.

The deal gives Western Wind a 100% interest in Windridge’s 38 turbine generators, electrical equipment and switchgear.

The facility’s infrastructure will be refurbished using new turbines of greater than one megawatt output, increasing production ten-fold and generating cash flow of $C1 million per year, the company said.

Windridge is the most westerly of all the wind energy projects at Tehachapi. It has an unobstructed airflow about a mile upwind from the nearest other farm, operated by Florida Power and Light.