Wind-power project taking flight

Sep 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Anthony A. Mestas The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Southeastern Colorado's newest wind farm will be dedicated next week.

The 75-megawatt Twin Buttes Wind Power Project, a farm of 50 spinning wind turbines, has started producing power west of Lamar in southeast Bent County.

Gov. Bill Ritter will join Bent County commissioners and a host of other dignitaries for a formal dedication of the $100 million project Sept. 14 at 10 a.m. at the farm.

There will be a picnic lunch and tours of the turbines following the dedication ceremony.

The project is the second-largest wind farm in the Lower Arkansas Valley, a region working to capitalize on the new interest in wind power as an alternative to fossil fuels.

PPM Energy, ScottishPower's U.S. energy business, built the state-of-the-art wind power facility. The project, which will generate power for Xcel Energy customers, started production in July.

The Twin Buttes project runs near a second wind-power project, the Colorado Green Wind Power Project. The Green Wind project is the fifth-largest wind farm in the nation and the largest in the state. It is located 23 miles south of Lamar and also generates power for Xcel.

That Green Wind project spans almost 12,000 acres of grassland between Lamar and Springfield, has 108 wind turbines and is jointly owned by PPM Energy and Shell WindEnergy Inc.

Both farms use 1.5-mega-watt GE turbines.

The Twin Buttes project sits on approximately 9,000 acres owned by seven people. It generates enough electricity to power 22,000 Colorado homes.