Tri-State Generation buying wind power on Colorado plains

Clean energy and Colorado jobs

The supplier that provides electricity to the valley has agreed to expand its clean energy source. Gunnison County Electric Association’s main energy supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, has signed a contract to purchase a large supply of wind power starting in 2010. That is on top of the solar power it agreed to purchase four months ago that should also come online in 2010.

The wind farm will be based on Colorado’s eastern plains. The solar plant is based in New Mexico.
Tri-State formally signed a 20-year deal on Monday, July 6 to buy power from a wind farm that Duke Energy will build near Burlington in eastern Colorado. It will be called the Kit Carson Windpower Project. The farm’s 34 turbines will produce 51 megawatts, enough for 12,000 to 14,000 households.
Gunnison County Electric Association chief executive officer Mike Wells says he is pleased that Tri-State is incorporating renewable energy sources into its portfolio.
“Tri-State has a requirement with all its member co-ops to supply at least 1 percent of its energy through renewables,” he explained. “So Tri-State has to build or purchase renewable energy equivalent to at least 1 percent. However, with the 30 megawatts of solar power and 51 megawatts of wind, it will certainly exceed the 1 percent requirement. But keep in mind that the requirement will continue to go up in the future. Plus, there is the need to put additional power generation on line to accommodate the future and growth.”
Tri-State’s executive vice president and general manager Ken Anderson says renewables are a growing aspect of Tri-State’s future. “This wind power project is an important part of our near-term strategy to diversify our portfolio with renewable resources that complement our fleet of baseload generation,” he says. “It also keeps us ahead of targets to meet renewable energy standards on behalf of our member co-ops.”
Climate and clean energy coordinator for the High Country Citizens’ Alliance, Chris Menges, says signing on for wind power is another good step for Tri-State. But Menges says there are plenty more steps to take. “The project is an example of how clean energy is generating jobs and can help drive Colorado’s economy,” he says. “Wind farms like this can help bring prosperity to rural areas in Colorado and spread throughout the state. It is a great step and there is a ton more potential for clean energy development in the state. We should continue striving to advance that.
“Tri-state still gets 72 percent of its energy from coal,” Menges continued. “GCEA customers should be aware of the need for more renewables in the future that can help protect the economy and reduce the impacts of climate change. But overall, this is certainly a good thing.”
Duke Energy will construct, own, operate and provide all maintenance services on the facility, which is scheduled to be in service by the end of 2010. Construction will begin with a workforce of about 150 people on site during the peak construction period. A permanent staff of four to eight technicians will operate the wind farm.
No new transmission facilities will be required to the Tri-State system; the wind project will be directly connected to an existing Tri-State 230-kilovolt line between substations located near the towns of Limon and Burlington.
“Being able to connect to our existing transmission system helps get the project online within 18 months,” Anderson said. “We’ll continue to invest in new transmission resources that will support further development of renewable energy projects.”
Wells explained that while the renewable energy constitutes a percentage of the energy pool supplied by Tri-State, most of that actual wind power would be used on the eastern plains.
“The way it works is that electrons generated flow to the nearest load,” he says, “just like Gunnison County Electric is really powered by almost 100 percent renewable energy generated from the Blue Mesa dam because we are the closest co-op to the dam. We are taking those hydropower electrons. But our use of the electricity generated from the dam is credited throughout the Tri-State system. It is better to use that energy close to the source to avoid loss of energy transmitted through the lines.”
The wind project is the second utility-scale renewable energy development to be announced by Tri-State this year. In March, Tri-State and Arizona-based First Solar entered into an agreement to develop a 30-megawatt solar generating facility in northeast New Mexico. Construction of that facility is scheduled to start in April 2010; it is expected to be fully operational at the same time as the Kit Carson Windpower Project.