Governments and other organisations are trying to find alternative ways to supply electricity from renewable sources. Whilst travelling through the Californian desert we turned a corner to find ourselves inside the huge San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, so we decided to stop and make a quick video.

The pass, found in the north-west region of the Coachella Valley, (located in the Colorado Desert) is not only one of the deepest mountain passes in America but also contains one of it’s largest wind farms. Stretching from Riverside County to the Salton Sea, the location sees continuous average wind speeds of 15 to 20 mph. On the day we arrived wind speeds were recorded in excess of 30mph. These winds are caused by the mixing of warm desert air with cooler coastal air, and lead to an incredibly stable renewable electricity resource. The 2,500 wind turbines have a capacity of 359 MW and an annual generation of about 893 Giga-Watt Hours (GWh) of electricity.

The San Gorgonio wind resource area is one of three primary regions – the others being Tehchapi Pass and Altamont Pass. Together these three areas account for nearly 95 percent of all commercial wind power generation in California, and approximately 11 percent of the world’s wind-generated electricity.

You can read more about the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm by using this link.