Colorado farmers see future in wind

Prairie Wind Energy, a group of local farmers and ranchers, is negotiating with Xcel Energy to erect 46 wind turbines in the shadow of PPM Energy's existing Colorado Green wind farm, the state's largest with a capacity of 162 megawatts.

The $90 million facility would generate 69 megawatts that will be transmitted to an Xcel Energy substation northeast of Lamar. From there, most of the energy will be utilized across the Front Range.

Members of PWE have been working on this proposal for a little more than a year, according to John Stulp, a PWE member.

"With Colorado Green and Lamar's wind farm we felt that we should investigate the feasibility of putting in a wind farm and having a little more ownership in it - we are still working to that end," Stulp said.

Stulp said that PWE is still negotiating with Xcel Energy and that he could not discuss some of the details.

"Negotiations are still very intense, but we feel that we are one of the finalists in it and we hope we are successful," Stulp said.

Stulp did not say who else Xcel was negotiating with.

He said that if Xcel agrees to a contract, the turbines will be up and running by Dec. 31.

Stulp said that PWE will have large equity partners helping to fit the $90 million bill for the project if it goes through.

"These are institutions and investment groups that do this sort of thing and have lots of money to invest. We are looking at several different structures on that and they are watching us closely to make sure that they feel comfortable in investing heavily into this because they intend to make money on it, too," Stulp said.

Stulp said that building a wind farm between two existing wind farms gives investors a higher level of confidence in the project.

The proposed site is eight miles southeast of Lamar between the Colorado Green wind farm and the Lamar Wind Energy wind farm.

The majority of the proposed site, which is roughly three miles wide and four miles long, lays on farmland and grasslands.

"The new wind farm will not impact the land much - less than one percent of the land is used for the wind farm itself," Stulp said.

Each turbine will produce 1.5 megawatts. Stulp said that the turbines will most likely be GE turbines similar to the ones used at the Colorado Green wind farm.

"We will be producing 40 percent of what the Colorado Green wind farm produces but it will still have the same implications on the economy. It will have a tax base and provide a few jobs during the construction phase," Stulp said.

There are six families that own land where the wind turbines will be and seven landowners located on the transmission route to the substation.

Stulp said that there are no homes on the proposed site and that the poles for the transmission route will be at least one mile away from any homes. The poles will be 68 feet high and 400 feet apart. "We tried to stay away from homes as much as we could," Stulp said.

The transition route will require a special use permit from the county zoning commission. There will be a public hearing concerning the transition route on March 22.

"We have a good wind resource here and it's time we try to take advantage of it," Stulp said.