Developers broke ground Wednesday on a $700 million wind farm in northeast Colorado that will be the nation’s third-largest wind generator.
FPL Energy and Invenergy Wind will develop the 400-megawatt project, which will yield enough power to supply about 120,000 homes. The site is north of Sterling in Logan County.
Xcel Energy will buy the facility’s entire electric output. Combined with purchases from three other wind farms, the Peetz Table project will allow Xcel to meet the requirements of Colorado’s renewable-energy standard seven years early.
“Wind power is a valuable part of our generation mix in Colorado,” said Karen Hyde, managing director of resource planning and acquisitions at Xcel. “With the new renewable-energy legislation requiring 20 percent of our power (to) come from renewable energy, we feel that it will continue to grow in importance.”
The project, with 267 wind turbines, is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Peak construction employment will be 300 to 350 workers. Upon completion, the facility will have 20 employees.
The nation’s largest wind farm, providing 736 megawatts, is in Taylor County, Texas. The second-largest is a 505-megawatt project in Sweetwater, Texas, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
FPL Energy is a unit of the company that owns Florida Power & Light. Chicago-based Invenergy, a wind-farm developer, earlier this year transferred its control of the Peetz project to FPL in return for a continuing economic interest in the facility.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
