GRAYLAND, Wash. - Washington State's powerful coastal winds are often blamed for causing power outages, but for the first time, they will soon be used to make power.
Four giant wind turbines are being constructed at Grayland and will start generating power June 1.
They are the first commercial wind generators on the Washington Coast and maybe the first in the nation to be linked directly to a social service organization.
The Coastal Energy Project is the brain child of Craig Dublanko, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the Coastal Community Action Program. His group is used to proving a host of services to low-income residents in economically depressed Pacific and Grays Harbor counties, but Dublanko never imagined being in the energy business.
The turbines will generate power directly onto the Grays Harbor PUD grid and the money they generate will go to the Community Action Program. Meals on Wheels, Energy Assistance and other projects will get their funding from wind power.
Dublanko says the project got off the ground with a state grant for $5 million and the rest came through investment packages. He says for an area struggling with double-digit unemployment, the project's timing couldn't be better.
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