The San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm provides enough energy to power the nearby city of Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley. Located within the San Bernardino Mountains in one of the nation's deepest mountain passes, the wind farm contains more than 3000 separate windmills. The mills catch the powerful Santa Ana Winds funneling through the pass, which is one of the windiest places in Southern California.

Originally home to the Wanakis Cahuila tribe, flooding in the San Gorgonio Pass has washed away nearly all traces of their culture. In 1926, wind energy pioneer Dew R. Oliver tested wind speeds in the valley, discovering the Santa Ana winds. His venture to sell wind power never proved profitable and the valley's wind energy potential remained untapped for many decades. Prompted by oil shortages and rising fuel prices of the 1970s, the National Energy Act of 1978 and the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act offered incentives for the use of wind energy.

Progress was slow at first because of dissent from residents of Palm Springs, and the majority of the valley's turbines were not constructed until the mid-1980s. Much of the disagreement about wind farms subsided when Palm Spring's Mayor Sonny Bono incorporated the majority of the wind farm into the city limits, netting the city millions in property tax revenue.

As of 2010, California law requires twenty percent of the state's energy to come from renewable sources such as wind, fueling the wind farm's continued growth as wind farming contributes more and more to California's renewable energy.