Colorado breezes to forefront of wind energy

Wind energy has suddenly taken flight as Colorado breezes into a leadership role in the industry that promises to challenge other fuels for primacy in producing electricity for homes.

With seven wind energy projects under way in the state, and five others proposed, Colorado finds itself among the industry leaders and 11th among the top wind-producing states.

Nowhere is that more evident than the power purchase agreement signed Dec. 28, 2005, by Virginia-based Greenlight Energy with Public Service Co. of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy. Under terms of the deal, Xcel will acquire electricity generated by a 300-megawatt wind power facility scheduled for completion in late 2007 near Grover in Weld County.

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Greenlight’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Cedar Creek Wind Energy LLC, and Babcock & Brown LP, through a joint venture, will develop, build, own and operate the proposed $480 million wind-energy facility.

Cedar Creek will generate enough power to meet the needs of 95,000 households, approximately the size of the cities of Greeley or Fort Collins. It will also bring substantial economic development opportunities to Weld County with hundreds of construction jobs, over 12 full-time operator positions, and several million dollars a year to tax coffers. Approximately 30 families in the project area will benefit from annual payments from the project.

Cedar Creek will be the largest wind project in Colorado and among the top five nationwide. Greenlight is an independent wind energy company founded in 2000 based in Charlottesville, Va., with a national portfolio of development projects sufficient to generate more than 4,000 MW of wind power. Xcel, with operations in 11 states, is the fourth-largest combined gas and electric company in the nation.

More capacity in Colorado

Xcel it intends to acquire 775 MW of new wind-power capacity for its Colorado system, where natural gas prices threaten to make it unaffordable as fuel for electricity. This would make Xcel the nation’s largest utility user of wind power.

“We are working to ensure that wind power is an integral part of our nation’s future energy supply,´ said Pat Vincent, Xcel Energy’s president and chief executive officer for Colorado.

Xcel currently has 282 MW of wind in service and under construction in Colorado. The 775 MW would increase its overall wind capacity by 275 percent. Xcel expects to have 1,100 MW owned or purchased capacity on its system by early 2006.

Some 6 percent of the nation’s electricity could be supplied by wind power by 2020, about the same as hydroelectric today, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

AWEA reports Colorado projects already under way include: Ponnequin(2), 31.5 MW; Peetz Table Wind Farm, 29.7MW; Colorado Green/Lamar, 162 MW; Prowers County (2), 163.5 MW, and Aurora Wal-Mart, .05 MW.

Craig Cox of Conifer, with Interwest Energy Alliance, which represents the nation’s leading wind energy and nongovernmental organizations, said that although Weld County is now beginning to tap into wind energy, there are islands of transmission areas that are underserved because facilities are not in place to transmit the electricity.

“Weld needs to work with Xcel, land owners, communities and other public interest groups to get to the table for transmission improvements,” he said.

Cox added that other Weld County sites are under consideration for wind farms, but he declined to name them.

“Weld is a large resource close to a large market – Denver,” Cox added.

Ron Lehr, regional representative for AWEA, said Weld County is a good wind source and has good development already, so the future looks bright.

“The wind is in a very favorable position to add generation capacity over the years,” he noted. “But the best wind sites are not where anyone chooses to live. The wind is remote from the load.”

He said electric loads are constrained between Denver and Cheyenne, so transmission is not as good as it should be in the Northern Colorado corridor.

More megawatts this year

On a national basis, AWEA said last year that the wind energy industry will install about 2,500 megawatts of new wind power in 2006 to lower skyrocketing home heating and electric bills.

“This will bring new jobs, rural economic development and tax revenues without the harmful side effects associated with conventional power generation,” according to a Nov. 3 , 2005, statement by AWEA.

The cumulative total of U.S. installed wind capacity is now 9,200 MW, serving the equivalent of 2.48 million average homes. One megawatt of new wind energy is enough electricity to power 270 to 300 homes.

AWEA calls wind energy the “quickest and best supply side option to the natural gas shortage.”

Congress has extended the energy production tax credit through Dec. 31, 2007.