Energy, Utilities & Water  December 16, 2014

Platte River Power Authority adds more wind to power mix

FORT COLLINS – Platte River Power Authority said Tuesday that it has begun to buy electricity from the rest of an expanded wind farm owned by Chicago-based Invenergy Wind LLC.

The expanded wind farm generates 60 megawatts of wind power, which accounts for 11 percent of the utility’s electricity mix. The purchase of electricity from the remaining part of the project follows an announcement by the utility last month that it had begun buying power from the first part of the expanded wind farm.

The total electrical generation capacity of the expanded wind farm equals the average amount of energy used by 28,000 homes in the cities that own the not-for-profit wholesale utility: Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland.

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The wind project, known as the Spring Canyon Expansion in Peetz, about 25 miles northeast of Sterling, features 35 wind turbines generating electricity bought by Platte River. The expanded wind farm is near Invenergy’s original Spring Canyon Energy Facility, a wind farm that has operated since 2006.

Another 19 percent of Platte River’s wind generation comes from hydropower resources and most of the remaining percentage comes from coal-fired plants near Wellington and Craig.

Platte River’s board of directors recently approved a 30-megawatt solar farm that will contain roughly 100,000 solar panels near its coal-fired plant north of Wellington. That will add another 2 percent of renewable generation to the utility’s portfolio, Platte River spokesman Jon Little said.

 

FORT COLLINS – Platte River Power Authority said Tuesday that it has begun to buy electricity from the rest of an expanded wind farm owned by Chicago-based Invenergy Wind LLC.

The expanded wind farm generates 60 megawatts of wind power, which accounts for 11 percent of the utility’s electricity mix. The purchase of electricity from the remaining part of the project follows an announcement by the utility last month that it had begun buying power from the first part of the expanded wind farm.

The total electrical generation capacity of the expanded wind farm equals the average amount of energy used by…

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