Qualla: Mountaineer Wind Energy Center

Mountaineer Wind Energy Center: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cmichael, CC BY-SA 4.0. In a state where the political identity has been wrapped around coal for more than a century, the wind farm on Backbone Mountain was both surprising and necessary. When Mountaineer Wind Energy Center came online in December 2002, it was the first wind farm in West Virginia and the largest east of the Mississippi River. The 44 turbines, each about 350 feet tall to the blade tip, stood along the ridgeline of Backbone Mountain in Preston and Tucker counties - the same ridges where Henry Gassaway Davis had once cut timber and dug coal for his railroad empire. The same wind that snowed out hayfields and ruined picnics in Tucker County was now producing electricity for the Mid-Atlantic grid.

Image: Cmichael | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mountaineer Wind Energy Center: Why Backbone Mountain

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cmichael, CC BY-SA 4.0. Backbone Mountain forms the boundary between Tucker County to the southeast and Preston County to the northwest. It runs as a long, exposed ridge at about 3,200 to 3,400 feet of elevation - high enough to clear the lower terrain to the west and catch the prevailing westerly winds...

Image: Cmichael | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mountaineer Wind Energy Center: Who Owns It, Who Buys It

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cmichael, CC BY-SA 4.0. Mountaineer Wind Energy Center was originally developed and operated by FPL Energy (Florida Power and Light) and is now owned by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, which acquired the facility in 2018 as part of a portfolio purchase from NextEra Energy Resources. Exelon Generation...

Image: Cmichael | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mountaineer Wind Energy Center: Politics on a Coal Ridge

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cmichael, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wind power in West Virginia has not been politically neutral. The state's economy and political identity have been bound up with coal mining for more than a century. A wind farm on a Tucker County ridge represented, for some, a welcome diversification - jobs for local workers, le...

Image: Cmichael | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mountaineer Wind Energy Center: The Turbines Today

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cmichael, CC BY-SA 4.0. More than two decades after Mountaineer came online, the wind energy industry has matured significantly. Larger turbines have made earlier installations look small. The 'largest east of the Mississippi' distinction Mountaineer held in 2002 belongs now to bigger projects. Other wi...

Image: Cmichael | CC BY-SA 4.0