Tribe earns return on wind investment

Chris Crowley (right) presents a check to Les Mintohorn

What goes around, comes around, when the wind blows. An investment made in 2004 on what was then a relatively unknown technology and company is now beginning to pay off for an Oregon tribe. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) earlier this month received the first installment of pay backs on an investment they made with Vancouver, Wash.-based Columbia Energy Partners on the Rattlesnake Road wind farm in 2004. According to Columbia Energy Partners, the company delivered a check for $125,000 to the tribe in July.

CTUIR invested an undisclosed amount to become minority partners in Rattlesnake Road. At the time, there were no other operating wind farms in Arlington, Ore., and it was Columbia Energy Partners’ first major development, making it a relatively risky investment for the tribe, according to company president, Chris Crowley.

Crowley says that although the tribe didn’t know much about his company and was just learning about the technology, they made the investment and were active partners in the project. They attended meetings between the company and the Bonneville Power Administration to help secure transmission rights and worked on securing a power purchase agreement, though that deal eventually fell through, according to Crowley.

"The check is not their full return," says Chris Crowley, president of Columbia Energy Partners. "It’s a good first step."

Columbia Energy Partners sold Rattlesnake Road Wind Farm to Horizon Wind in 2006. At the beginning of July, that company announced that a deal was reached for a long-term power purchase agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). When the project is completed--expected by the end of 2008--it will generate almost 103 MW of power or 240 GWh a year, all of which will be delivered to PG&E, due to the firm transmission rights Columbia Energy Partners and CTUIR were able to secure.