Wind Farm News
Colorado wind farm to supply Tri-State power customers
Denver Business Journal
A new wind-power project by Duke Energy Corp. on Colorado’s Eastern Plains will supply electricity to customers of Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the state’s second-largest power supplier.
The wind farm is to be build by Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), with power supplied to Westminster-based Tri-State under a 20-year power-purchase agreement, Duke said.
MORE: New York Times spotlights Tri-State, Duke wind-power plans
Duke said it will develop the 51-megawatt Kit Carson Windpower Project on 6,000 acres near Burlington under a long-term lease. The project will be the company’s first in Colorado and fourth in the region.
The project is expected to start commercial operation by the end of 2010.
The Kit Carson project will consist of 34 GE wind turbines, each capable of generating 1.5 MW of electricity, Duke said.
“We’re proud to be partnering with Duke Energy on our first utility-scale wind power project,” said Ken Anderson, Tri-State executive VP and general manager, said in a statement released by Duke Monday. “The project will further diversify our resource mix, bring value to our member cooperatives, and support jobs and investment in the rural areas our members serve.”
Tri-State announced April 10 it would shift its focus from building more coal-fired power plants to natural gas, renewable energy and efficiency.
It was a major change of policy for Tri-State, which supplies wholesale power to 18 electric-distribution cooperatives in Colorado and 26 in Wyoming, New Mexico and Nebraska. The utility’s two-year-old resource plan had called for the construction of 2,100 megawatts of new coal-fired power plants by 2012.
Critics had blamed nonprofit Tri-State for not embracing alternative energy in its future plans, the way investor-owned utility Xcel Energy has.
Ritter supported Tri-State’s policy change, telling Tri-State’s board: “You deserve a lot of credit for making efficiency, renewables and new technology investments a high priority as you look for new and better ways to provide affordable and reliable electricity to your rural customer-owners.”
Tri-State has said it also plans to develop a 30-megawatt, 500,000-panel solar photovoltaic power plant in northeastern New Mexico by late 2010.
Six Colorado schools will be given turbines
State and federal grants will give six schools a chance to harness the winds that buffet their walls year-round.
The schools — five on the Eastern Plains and one in northern Colorado — will be fitted with wind turbines as part of the Wind for Schools Program, aimed at providing cheap energy for the buildings and boosting science education.
“We hope to do something innovative and creative and to spur new ideas,” said Wellington Middle School counselor Bill Peisner, who brought the wind-turbine proposal to administrators and students.
The school in Wellington, north of Fort Collins, was the only Front Range campus to apply for a turbine. The school wants to use its machine as part of a math-and-science kiosk that examines the potential uses for wind power.
The turbine is to be installed in October, near the school’s football field.
“I really don’t think our kids know what to expect,” Peisner said, “but once it’s installed, I think the idea will start flowing.”
The other schools getting a turbine are Stratton, Flagler, Walsh and Burlington high schools, and Kit Carson Junior/Senior High School.
The program is a joint venture of the Governor’s Energy Office, U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Colorado State University.
The Southwest Windpower Skystream 1.8 kW turbines will generate only a small share of each school’s electricity. They’ll produce about 300 kilowatt-hours per month, or about the amount of power a small home uses monthly, said Mona Newton, central region representative for the Governor’s Energy Office.
But the next-generation windmills will be invaluable teaching tools to get get rural kids interested in the growing field of windpower, officials said.
“It’s a great fit for our area in that wind is something we deal with all of our lives around here,” said Kyle Hebberd, superintendent of the Walsh School District. “It’s great to see it finally put to some productive use.”
The turbines cost $12,500 to $15,000 each. The Governor’s Energy Office and NREL are contributing $5,000 and $2,500, respectively, to buy the Renewable Energy Credits generated by the turbines. The school districts chip in the rest.
Peisner said the Wellington school is getting grants to supplement what the Poudre School District is giving for its turbine.
“It’s a timely project for the country,” he said, “so the grant writing for the turbine has gone really well.”
July 6th, 2010 at 11:51 am
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