Across Colorado, consumers are feeling a painful pinch from rising energy prices. At the pump and the home thermostat, a double dose of skyrocketing gasoline and natural gas costs is delivering a powerful one-two punch.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Colorado topped $3 earlier this month, according to the federal Energy Information Administration – up more than $1 per gallon from a year ago. Natural-gas prices are also on the rise and Colorado’s utilities have said they expect the cost of heating homes to increase significantly this winter.
Whether you are a metro Denver resident, or, like me, a wheat farmer in Prowers County, these rising expenses will burden all Coloradans with new economic challenges. But there is a long-term alternative to help offset some of these costs, one that’s good for consumers, farmers and the environment. And it’s blowing in the wind.
Across eastern Colorado, a steady wind sweeps the plains, and the opportunity to harvest it for clean, renewable energy is a growing reality for farmers and ranchers. The state’s Office of Economic Development & International Trade estimates there are 6 million acres of potential wind resource lands in Colorado, mostly on the eastern plains.
The time is right for seizing energy from the wind. In 2004, Colorado voters became the first in the nation to pass a statewide renewable energy requirement by referendum. Voter approval of Amendment 37 requires the state’s largest utilities to provide 10 percent of their retail electricity sales through wind and other renewable energy by 2015.
In addition, Congress recently extended the production tax credit for wind power projects. The credit provides a 1.8-cent per kilowatt-hour benefit for the first 10 years of a facility’s operation, and its extension to December 2007 is expected to give a significant boost to the U.S. wind market – including in Colorado, where companies are planning several large wind projects.
Wind power won’t solve all of today’s energy problems, but it is already making a difference. Colorado has more than 220 megawatts of wind-generated power on its electricity grid. And wind turbines across the United States generate enough electricity to provide power for more than 4 million Americans. By 2020, wind power could supply at least 6 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to industry estimates.
Wind energy is also clean energy. It doesn’t require mining or drilling, or generate radioactive waste and other pollutants. Further, the power generated by wind mitigates the pollution that would have been generated by a conventional coal or natural gas plant.
Because it has no fuel costs (wind is free), wind energy costs are stable over time. Adding more wind power to our electricity mix will therefore stabilize the cost of electricity and help protect Coloradans from the dramatic fluctuations we have recently seen in prices for natural gas, oil and other resources used to generate electricity.
Closer to home, wind energy can help bring economic revitalization to rural Colorado communities by helping diversify local economies that are largely reliant on agriculture. I know this from personal experience.
In 2003, Colorado Green, a 162-megawatt wind project, was constructed in Prowers County. At that time, the area was back on its heels, fighting the effects of a lingering five-year drought. Main Street Lamar was in tough shape and the spirits of residents were down.
It’s hard to measure hope, but Colorado Green helped turn our community around. The project increased our county tax base by nearly 30 percent. It brought new jobs to town and new revenues to local businesses – particularly during the construction phase, when at its peak, the project employed nearly 400 people.
Today, we have an alternative crop to harvest, as well as a new source of income for farmers and the communities they support.
Wind power won’t be the silver bullet for all of our energy needs, but it is a step in the right direction for Colorado and our nation. It’s time to take steps to make wind power a greater portion of tomorrow’s energy mix, so that we avoid the energy price spikes that plague us today.
John Stulp is a farmer/rancher near Lamar. He is a former Prowers County commissioner and has also served on the Colorado Wildlife Commission, the State Board of Agriculture, and the Colorado Board of Land Commissioners. He is a partner in Prairie Wind Energy, a group of southeast Colorado landowners working to develop community wind projects.
