Central Coasting: Soledad harnesses wind power

Driving down Highway 101 past Soledad, you may have seen a huge windmill erected about two years ago. It’s not there to just look pretty.

“It’s a 1.85 megawatt G.E. wind turbine,” explained Don Wilcox, the Public Works Director for the City of Soledad.

For those of us who don’t speak electricity, that’s a lot of power.

“The City of Soledad waste water reclamation facility behind me draws about one half megawatt from that source,” said Wilcox. “And the balance is net metered back to the PG&E grid.”

The 403-foot turbine, with a lot of help from mother nature, creates enough power to equal 2.6 million pounds of coal, which offsets roughly 2,660 tons of carbon waste.

“The city really wanted to do the green thing, but it also does reduce our energy bill by about 25% at the treatment plant,” said Wilcox.

Strong winds blow through South Monterey County on a regular basis, and the city plans to harness that energy with a second turbine by the end of the year.

“The second one is going to be even larger, a 2.86 megawatt wind turbine about 50-feet taller,” said Wilcox. “It needs to be about 1,000 feet away from the first one so that they don’t interfere with wind patterns or anything.”

Soledad is already known for its vineyards and the Pinnacles, but soon, it may also be noted for its clean, renewable wind energy.

“(It’s) clean energy. There’s nothing being burned, no stack of emissions. It’s really just a win-win wind solution,” said Wilcox.