Wind power in Colorado

The US state of Colorado has vast wind energy resources and the installed electricity capacity and generation from wind power in Colorado has been growing significantly in recent years. The growth has been sustained due to a combination of falling costs (69% reduction from 2009 to 2018), continuing federal incentives (similar to those supporting most other resource development), and the state's aggressive renewable portfolio standard that requires 30% of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Wind power accounted for 14.2% of total electricity generated in Colorado during 2015. Its share increased to more than 17% for years 2016 through 2018. As of the end of 2018, more than three times as much power was produced by wind within the state as was produced from all other renewable sources combined.

The cities of Brighton and Windsor are home to three Vestas manufacturing facilities. Overall, it is estimated that each wind turbine deployed supports about 30 jobs over the course of its lifetime through its manufacturing, supply chain, construction, and operation.

History

Colorado voters approved Amendment 37 which required the state's largest utilities to obtain 3 percent of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2007, and 10 percent by 2015. More recently, in 2010, the state approved a renewable portfolio standard that requires 30% of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Growth in generating capacity and production

Colorado has the potential to install 387,220 MW of wind power generating capacity according to a 2010 U.S. DOE study. The graphs below show the growth in the installed capacity (measured in megawatts (MW) along with the growth in the actual electrical energy produced (measured in gigawatt-hours (GW·h) within the state for more than the past decade.

+Colorado wind generating capacity by year Megawatts of generating capacityWind Energy in ColoradoWINDEXchange: U.S. Installed and Potential Wind Power Capacity and Generation

+Colorado wind electricity production by year Gigawatt-hours of electricity

Colorado wind generation (GWh, million kWh) Year Total Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2001 48 4 2 2 3 3 2 1 3 2 5 5 16 2002 141 16 15 11 13 11 10 8 10 10 10 12 15 2003 147 17 11 17 13 11 9 8 9 10 12 14 16 2004 221 14 14 17 12 13 9 7 8 11 27 29 60 2005 776 106 85 98 48 44 58 63 40 64 55 58 57 2006 868 74 78 88 90 62 73 58 51 56 99 71 68 2007 1,292 80 62 84 82 50 55 55 56 126 201 221 220 2008 3,222 326 303 307 302 296 246 165 193 166 257 332 329 2009 3,164 426 278 267 321 231 150 147 204 248 311 277 304 2010 3,451 249 234 301 368 335 262 204 209 257 275 341 416 2011 5,202 415 387 392 465 513 426 310 348 332 507 551 556 2012 5,968 629 544 560 551 426 489 347 432 345 478 495 672 2013 7,205 669 714 688 555 570 588 505 381 543 662 624 706 2014 7,368 803 550 685 753 599 571 418 369 517 633 810 660 2015 7,474 765 628 684 668 630 425 447 558 473 668 657 871 2016 9,423 782 1,001 941 864 738 556 633 584 732 789 929 874 2017 9,316 835 804 875 907 850 628 501 618 577 921 837 963 2018 9,744 857 724 1,005 986 697 798 739 716 699 721 756 1,046 2019 10,854 942 848 924 1,014 867 781 896 789 1,041 923 940 889 2020 13,387 1,235 995 898 898 1,319 992 1,079 1,059 1,038 1,038 1,287 1,549 2021 15,030 1,302 907 1,406 1,364 1,281 1,103 1,071 1,190 1,135 1,260 1,350 1,661 2022 16,701 1,416 1,308 1,563 1,793 1,567 1,441 1,237 1,108 1,144 1,040 1,520 1,564 2023 4,243 1,283 1,464 1,496

Source:

Seasonal pattern of wind generation

Electricity production from wind power in Colorado tends to peak during the winter months, as shown in the graph below. This pattern complements the electricity production from solar power in Colorado, which peaks during the summer months.

+Colorado wind generation in 2016

Sources:EIA Electric Power Monthly, EIA Electricity Data Browser

Wind farms

The Ponnequin Wind Farm on the Colorado-Wyoming border in Weld County was the state's earliest large-scale wind farm built to a capacity of 25.3 MW during the 1990s and decommissioned starting 2015. It was surpassed in 2001 by the first phase of the Peetz Table Wind Complex at a capacity of just under 30 MW. The site west of the town of Peetz in northeastern Colorado grew to 430 MW in 2007 and consists of three farms: Ridge Crest (the original Peetz Table Wind), Logan, and Peetz Table. In 2009, the majority owner NextEra Energy Resources also completed the 174 MW Northern Colorado Wind Energy Center to the east of Peetz.

The Spring Canyon Wind Energy Center including the Spring Canyon Expansion - also east of Peetz - have a combined capacity rating of over 120 MW spread over 75 wind turbines. These two neighboring sites were built by Chicago-based clean energy company Invenergy LLC in 2006 and 2014, respectively. Invenergy continues operation of these sites which provide power to the Platte River Power Authority including the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont in Colorado.

The Cedar Creek Wind Farm north of Grover, Colorado became the largest wind farm at 550 MW in 2011. Phase 1 was built in 2007 and has 300 MW of generation capacity from 274 wind turbines.Full operation of Cedar Creek wind farm announced Cedar Creek II was built in 2011 and has 250 MW of generation capacity from 60 Nordex and 63 GE wind turbines.BP, Sempra Celebrate Completion Of Cedar Creek Wind Farm

In 2014, the Limon Wind Energy Center became the state's largest wind facility, at just over 600 MW capacity. In 2018, it was nearly matched in capacity by the nearby Rush Creek Wind Project.

Wind power in Colorado

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