Wind power — New Wyoming plant generating plenty of interest

EVANSTON, Wyo. — The idea of alternative energy has been a hot topic recently, especially with the skyrocketing price of gasoline and other fossil fuels.

But 20 or 30 years ago, few people were interested in developing environmentally friendly or "green" energy sources.

Gary Tassainer, president of Lehi-based Tasco Engineering, is an electrical engineer by training, and developing wind power has been his passion for more than two decades. He said he has been working on high-voltage electrical systems for about 30 years.

"For me personally, power generation has been my love of life," he said. "I've spent a good portion of my career trying to get generation projects up and done."

His firm's wind farm is about 20 miles east of Evanston, Wyo., and sits on several acres of cattle grazing land just a few miles off I-80.

"We're supposed to be finished Nov. 30, and we'll be pretty close to that," said Tassainer.

He expects to begin generating electricity by next spring. The 29-turbine project covers six parcels of land that are each one square mile, he said.

There is also a 200-megawatt wind farm project about 10 miles to the west developed by Florida Power and Light and also sells its power to PacifiCorp.

In addition to developing wind power, Tassainer has built electrical generation systems using natural gas in St. George, Springville and Eagle Mountain. But he started seriously looking into possibilities for wind in 1998, gathering data, obtaining required permits and researching how to facilitate the sale of electricity to power suppliers.

"I've worked so hard on this with so many drawbacks and so many setbacks," he said. At one point he told his business partner, Tasco business development director Rick Frandsen, he doubted the project would ever get done.

"I've spent half my life on it, and we're never going to see it," Tassainer said. However, he said Frandsen kept encouraging him to move forward and see it through.

Part of the problem has been bureaucratic red tape because the project is situated on land that contains part of the historic Mormon Trail. In addition, other regulations and requirements had to be met before the project could proceed — not to mention resistance by local residents who consider the towers eyesores.

"There have been some public hearings where people have expressed the fact they didn't want (the wind turbines)," he said. "I've always said, 'Would you prefer to suck brown smoke or look at these turbines?"'