Big Western power generator plans Colo wind farm

Posted: 07.06.2009 at 10:05 AM

STORY UPDATE

DENVER (AP) — A major regional power supplier has reached a deal to buy electricity from a new wind farm in Colorado.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association formally signed a 20-year deal on Monday to buy power from a wind farm that Duke Energy will build near Burlington in eastern Colorado.

The farm's 34 turbines will produce 51 megawatts, enough for 12,000 to 14,000 households.

The wind farm is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. About 150 people will be needed to build it and four to eight full-time technicians will maintain it.

Tri-State, based in suburban Denver, supplies power to 44 electric cooperatives in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Duke Energy, based in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the nation's largest power generators.

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DENVER (AP) -- A major regional power generator is announcing plans for a 51-megawatt wind energy project on Colorado's Eastern Plains.

cThe wind farm will be built by Duke Energy of Charlotte, N.C. Duke says the project will have 34 turbines on 6,000 acres near Burlington, about 150 miles east of Denver. It's expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Tri-State, based in suburban Denver, currently gets 72 percent of its power from coal and roughly 1 percent from wind and solar.

Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest electric utility, gets 10 percent of its power from renewable sources.