Wind power in Colorado explained

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.[1] [2]

Wind power accounted for 14.2% of total electricity generated in Colorado during 2015.[3] Its share increased to more than 17% for years 2016 thru 2018.[4] As of the end of 2018, more than three times as much power is produced by wind within the state as is produced from all other renewable sources combined.

The cities of Brighton, and Windsor, Colorado 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.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7] 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
ImageSize = width:350 height:auto barincrement:20PlotArea = left:36 bottom:20 top:10 right:10AlignBars = justifyPeriod = from:0 till:5100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1000 start:0

PlotData= color:coral width:20 bar:1999 from:start till:21.6 text:21.6 bar:2000 from:start till:21.6 text:21.6 bar:2001 from:start till:61.2 text:61.2 bar:2002 from:start till:61.2 text:61.2 bar:2003 from:start till:223.2 text:223.2 bar:2004 from:start till:230.7 text:230.7 bar:2005 from:start till:230.8 text:230.8 bar:2006 from:start till:290.8 text:290.8 bar:2007 from:start till:1066.8 text:1,066.8 bar:2008 from:start till:1067.7 text:1,067.7 bar:2009 from:start till:1244.3 text:1,244.3 bar:2010 from:start till:1298.6 text:1,298.6 bar:2011 from:start till:1805 text:1,805 bar:2012 from:start till:2301 text:2,301 bar:2013 from:start till:2332 text:2,332 bar:2014 from:start till:2593 text:2,593 bar:2015 from:start till:2992 text:2,992 bar:2016 from:start till:3026 text:3,026 bar:2017 from:start till:3104 text:3,104 bar:2018 from:start till:3706 text:3,706 bar:2019 from:start till:3762 text:3,762 bar:2020 from:start till:4692 text:4,692 bar:2021 from:start till:5035 text:5,035

Megawatts of generating capacity[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Colorado Wind Electricity Production by Year
ImageSize = width:350 height:auto barincrement:20PlotArea = left:36 bottom:20 top:10 right:10AlignBars = justifyPeriod = from:0 till:17000TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:3000 start:0

PlotData= color:lightorange width:20 bar:2001 from:start till:48 text:48 bar:2002 from:start till:141 text:141 bar:2003 from:start till:147 text:147 bar:2004 from:start till:221 text:221 bar:2005 from:start till:776 text:776 bar:2006 from:start till:868 text:868 bar:2007 from:start till:1292 text:1,292 bar:2008 from:start till:3222 text:3,222 bar:2009 from:start till:3164 text:3,164 bar:2010 from:start till:3451 text:3,451 bar:2011 from:start till:5202 text:5,202 bar:2012 from:start till:5968 text:5,968 bar:2013 from:start till:7205 text:7,205 bar:2014 from:start till:7368 text:7,368 bar:2015 from:start till:7474 text:7,474 bar:2016 from:start till:9423 text:9,423 bar:2017 from:start till:9316 text:9,316 bar:2018 from:start till:9744 text:9,744 bar:2019 from:start till:10854 text:10,854 bar:2020 from:start till:13387 text:13,387 bar:2021 from:start till:15030 text:15,030 bar:2022 from:start till:16701 text:16,701

Gigawatt-hours of electricity[13]
Colorado Wind Generation (GWh, Million kWh)
YearTotalJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
200148 4 2 2 3 3 2 1 3 2 5 5 16
2002141 16 15 11 13 11 10 8 10 10 10 12 15
2003147 17 11 17 13 11 9 8 9 10 12 14 16
2004221 14 14 17 12 13 9 7 8 11 27 29 60
2005776 106 85 98 48 44 58 63 40 64 55 58 57
2006868 74 78 88 90 62 73 58 51 56 99 71 68
20071,292 80 62 84 82 50 55 55 56 126 201 221 220
20083,222 326 303 307 302 296 246 165 193 166 257 332 329
20093,164 426 278 267 321 231 150 147 204 248 311 277 304
20103,451 249 234 301 368 335 262 204 209 257 275 341 416
20115,202 415 387 392 465 513 426 310 348 332 507 551 556
20125,968 629 544 560 551 426 489 347 432 345 478 495 672
20137,205 669 714 688 555 570 588 505 381 543 662 624 706
20147,368 803 550 685 753 599 571 418 369 517 633 810 660
20157,474 765 628 684 668 630 425 447 558 473 668 657 871
20169,423 782 1,001 941 864 738 556 633 584 732 789 929 874
20179,316 835 804 875 907 850 628 501 618 577 921 837 963
20189,744 857 724 1,005 986 697 798 739 716 699 721 756 1,046
201910,854 942 848 924 1,014 867 781 896 789 1,041 923 940 889
202013,387 1,235 995 898 898 1,319 992 1,079 1,059 1,038 1,038 1,287 1,549
202115,030 1,302 907 1,406 1,364 1,281 1,103 1,071 1,190 1,135 1,260 1,350 1,661
202216,701 1,416 1,308 1,563 1,793 1,567 1,441 1,237 1,108 1,144 1,040 1,520 1,564
20234,243 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
ImageSize = width:360 height:240PlotArea = width:300 height:170 left:40 bottom:40AlignBars = late

DateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:1080TimeAxis = orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:month increment:200 start:0

TextData = pos:(5,240) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:GWh pos:(175,25) textcolor:black fontsize:S text:Month

PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 bar:Jan from:start till:781 bar:Feb from:start till:1000 bar:Mar from:start till:941 bar:Apr from:start till:865 bar:May from:start till:740 bar:Jun from:start till:557 bar:Jul from:start till:636 bar:Aug from:start till:585 bar:Sept from:start till:731 bar:Oct from:start till:789 bar:Nov from:start till:927 bar:Dec from:start till:873

Sources:EIA Electric Power Monthly, EIA Electricity Data Browser[14] [15]

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.[16] [17] 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),[18] Logan,[19] and Peetz Table.[20] [21] In 2009, the majority owner NextEra Energy Resources also completed the 174 MW Northern Colorado Wind Energy Center to the east of Peetz.[22]

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.[23] These 2 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.[24]

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.[25] Cedar Creek II was built in 2011 and has 250 MW of generation capacity from 60 Nordex and 63 GE wind turbines.[26]

In 2014, the Limon Wind Energy Center became the state's largest wind facility at just over 600 MW capacity.[27] In 2018, it was nearly matched in capacity by the nearby Rush Creek Wind Project.[28]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Colorado Boosts its RPS to 30% by 2020. Eber, Kevin and Ernie Tucker . Renewable Energy World . 2010-03-26 . 2010-12-28.
  2. Web site: University of Texas Study Highlights Wind's Low Cost . 2018-11-09 . American Wind Energy Association . Madeline Gould.
  3. Web site: U.S. number one in the world in wind energy production. February 29, 2016 . American Wind Energy Association.
  4. Web site: Colorado Wind Energy. U.S. Wind Energy State Facts . American Wind Energy Association . 2019-03-22.
  5. Web site: Vestas sets wind turbine sales record, plans to keep Colorado plants busy . Denver Business Journal . Cathy Proctor . January 2, 2018.
  6. Web site: Colorado Voters Pass Renewable Energy Standard. RenewableEnergyWorld.com. November 3, 2004. 2013-05-01.
  7. Web site: State wind energy potential (2010). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. U.S. Department of Energy. February 4, 2010. 2010-03-27.
  8. Web site: Wind Exchange: Installed Wind Capacity . U.S. Department of Energy . March 17, 2017 .
  9. Web site: EIA - Electricity Data Browser, Table 6.2.B. Net Summer Capacity Using Primarily Renewable Energy Sources and by State, December 2018 and 2017 (Megawatts) . U.S. Department of Energy . 2019-03-22 .
  10. https://windexchange.energy.gov/states/co Wind Energy in Colorado
  11. https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/321 WINDEXchange: U.S. Installed and Potential Wind Power Capacity and Generation
  12. Web site: Market Report 2021 . American Clean Power Association. May 17, 2022 . May 22, 2022.
  13. Web site: Electricity Data Browser . U.S. Department of Energy . March 28, 2018 . August 7, 2021 .
  14. Web site: Electricity Data Browser - Net generation for wind. EIA. Energy Information Administration. United States Department of Energy. 2014-09-01.
  15. Web site: Electric Power Monthly Table 1.17.B.. EIA. Energy Information Administration. United States Department of Energy. July 27, 2012. 2012-08-15.
  16. Web site: Ponnequin Wind Farm . Xcel Energy . May 8, 2019.
  17. Web site: Where Do Wind Turbines Go To Die? . Inside Energy . September 9, 2016 . Rebecca Jacobson . May 8, 2019.
  18. Web site: Peetz Table Wind . 2019-03-02 . EDF Renewables .
  19. Web site: Logan Wind Energy Center . 2019-03-02 . NextEra Energy Resources .
  20. Web site: Peetz Table Wind Energy Center . 2019-03-02 . NextEra Energy Resources .
  21. News: Work begins on wind farm project . 2019-03-01 . Denver Business Journal . 2007-05-16 .
  22. Web site: Northern Colorado Wind Energy Center . 2019-03-02 . NextEra Energy Resources.
  23. Web site: Spring Canyon II Begins Operations . 2019-03-02 . Platte River Power Authority . 2014-11-06.
  24. Web site: Invenergy Wraps Up Spring Canyon Expansion Wind Energy Center. 2015-07-08.
  25. http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9024973&contentId=7046495 Full operation of Cedar Creek wind farm announced
  26. http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.8240 BP, Sempra Celebrate Completion Of Cedar Creek Wind Farm
  27. Web site: Limon I, II, & III Wind Energy Centers . 2019-03-02 . NextEra Energy Resources .
  28. Web site: Rush Creek Wind Project . 2019-03-02 . xcelenergy.com .

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