wind powering america--colorado · since earliest recorded history, wind power has been used to...

Since earliest recorded history, windpower has been used to move ships,grind grain, and pump water. Today, windpower is also being used to provideelectricity to homes, schools, busi-nesses, and entire communities. Morethan half the United States have windresources that could support the devel-opment of utility-scale wind powerplants.

We have enough wind in Colorado togenerate 288 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh)of electricity annually. That’s enough toserve double the entire state’s popula-tion. Construction on Colorado’s firstwind farm, Public Service Company’sPonnequin wind farm located near theColorado-Wyoming border, began inJanuary 1997. The first wind turbine wasinstalled in January 1998 and begangenerating electricity in April 1998.Today, Ponnequin boasts 29 turbinesthat generate 20 megawatts (MW) ofelectricity.

Colorado utilities also purchase windpower for their customers from windfarms in Wyoming. Public ServiceCompany purchases wind power fromthe Foote Creek Rim Wind Farm nearArlington, Wyoming. In addition, four tur-bines recently installed at Medicine Bowby the Platte River Valley Authority willserve green-pricing customers andrenewable energy programs in Aspen,Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland, andEstes Park.

What is Green Pricing?In Colorado, customers can arrange to purchase a certain amount of windpower (actual energy in kWh) per month,for which they commonly pay a smallpremium to completely or partly offsetany higher cost of renewable powersources. The policy of transferring theslightly higher costs for "green power" to customers is called "green pricing."Green power is power produced byrenewable or environmentally friendlyenergy sources, as distinct from powerproduced by fossil fuel, nuclear, andother types of generators.

How Do I Sign Up?Residential and commercial customerscan join wind power programs acrossthe state by signing up through theirlocal utilities to buy wind energy in 100-kWh blocks on a monthly basis for$2.50-$3.00 per month above existingresidential rates. Since wind power pro-grams were introduced in Colorado in1996, more than 16,000 customers havesigned up for wind power for their homesand businesses.

You can sign up for wind power throughyour local utility or online. To sign up forgreen power and calculate the environ-mental benefits of your purchases, visithttp://www.cogreenpower.org/

Colorado utilities currently offeringgreen power include:

Carbon Power & Light

Chimney Rock Public Power

Colorado Springs Utilities

Delta-Montrose Electric

Estes Park Power & Light

Fort Collins Utilities

Gunnison County Electric

Holy Cross Energy

La Plata Electric

Longmont Power & Communications

Loveland Water & Power

Morgan County Rural Electric MountainParks Electric

Mountain Parks Electric

Northwest Rural Public Power District

Wind Powering America

Colorado

Clean Energy for the 21st Century

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Twenty-nine turbines generate20 megawatts of wind power at thePonnequin Wind Farm along theColorado-Wyoming state line. To seethe turbines in action watch 9news(KUSA TV). KUSA maintains a solar-powered live action camera on siteand purchases enough wind power toprovide for the needs of its weathercenter and maintains live solar-pow-ered cameras on site.

What is the installed wind energy capacity in the United States?

By January 2000, the totalU.S. installed wind energycapacity was 2500 MW.(See http://www.awea.org/faq/instcap.html) That’senough electricity to meetthe needs of 600,000 to800,000 typical U.S.homes.

Platte River Power Authority

Poudre Valley Rural Electric

Public Service Company

San Isabel Electric

San Luis Valley Rural ElectricCooperative

San Miguel Power

United Power

Y-W Electric.

Key ContactsColorado Springs UtilitiesJoanie Callahan719-668-3809

Fort Collins Utilities Wind Power ProgramLori Clements-Grote970-221-6396http://www.light-power.org/windpowr.HTM

Holy Cross EnergyWind Power PioneersDave Church970-947-5406dchurch@holycross.comwww.holycross.com

Land and Water Fund of the RockiesRudd Mayer303-444-1188 ext. 227rudd@lawfund.org

Public Service Company of ColoradoWindSource Program800-824-1688http://www.psco.com/solutions/ windsource.Asp

LinksNational Wind Technology CenterNational Renewable Energy Laboratoryhttp://www.nrel.gov/wind/

Green Power NetworkU.S. Dept. of EnergyEnergy Efficiency and RenewableEnergy Networkhttp://www.eren.doe.gov/greenpower/

Colorado Wind Power Campaignhttp://www.cogreenpower.org/

National Wind Coordinating Committeehttp://www.nationalwind.org/

Wind Energy Resource Atlashttp://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/

Colorado Renewable Energy Societyhttp://www.cres.gen.co.us

Land and Water Fund of the Rockieshttp://www.lawfund.org

Colorado

Produced for the U.S. Departmentof Energy by the NationalRenewable Energy Laboratory, a DOE national laboratory

DOE/GO-102000-0996April 2000

Printed with a renewable-source ink on paper

containing at least 50% wastepaper, including

20% postconsumer waste

Additional ResourcesAmerican Wind Energy Association122 C Street, NW, 4th FloorWashington, D.C. 20001phone (202) 383-2500fax (202) 383-2505www.awea.org

National Renewable Energy LaboratoryNational Wind Technology Center1617 Cole BoulevardGolden, Colorado 80401(303) 384-6979www.nrel.gov/wind

U.S. Department of EnergyDenver Regional Support Offices1617 Cole BoulevardGolden, Colorado 80401(303) 275-4826http://www.eren.doe.gov/dro/

U.S. Department of EnergyWind Energy ProgramForrestal Building1000 Independence Ave., S.W.Washington, D.C. 20585(202) 586-5348www.eren.doe.gov/wind

State SummaryInstalled—21 MW

Purchased—30 MW from Wyoming

In-State Wind Energy Potential:170,000 MW capacity after land use and environmental exclusions288 billion kWh per year electric energy

Current Wind Power Commitments:20 MW, Ponnequin Wind Farm, Public Service Company of Colorado,

NEG Micon turbines. 25 MW in customer rates, purchased power from Foote Creek Wind Farm

Planned Wind Power Commitments:

Public Service Company10 MW for green pricing, extension of Ponnequin Wind Farm25 MW for green pricing, 6 MW built per year starting 2002.

Platter River Power Authority4.8 MW, Medicine Bow Wind Farm.

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New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins,Colorado, is the largest business in Coloradoto purchase 100% of its electricity from windpower.