Colorado Wind-Powered Electric Energy 2018
More than 1/6th of Colorado’s 2018 electric energy supply.
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Wind turbines generated 17.53% of Colorado’s electric energy supply in 2018.
Electric utilities delivered 9,813 gigaWatthours of wind energy to consumers.
3,706 megaWatts of wind-turbine electric generating capacity is installed on the plains of eastern Colorado.
Colorado 2018 Electric Energy Sources:
Utility-Scale
Wind-turbine generators supplied more than 1/6th of Colorado consumers’ electric power in 2018. Coal-fired electric energy declined from 54.31% in 2017 to 47.10% of total Colorado electric power supply in 2018.
Reproduced from U.S. Department of Energy - WINDExchange, with Linecurrents edits. (Tap/click to enlarge).
Colorado Electric Wind-Energy Growth 2001-2018:
Utility-Scale
Colorado’s wind-powered electric energy supply grew from near-0% of total electric energy supply to more than 17% in 17 years.
Linecurrents chart, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. (Tap/click to enlarge).
Rush Creek Wind became Colorado’s largest windpower project in September 2018. Rush Creek consists of 300 wind-turbine generators totaling 600 megaWatts (MW) capacity in Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson and Lincoln counties.
Rush Creek Wind is the only in-service windpower project owned and operated by Xcel Energy in Colorado. Independent Power Producers (IPPs) own and operate most Colorado windpower projects, and sell generated electric energy to utilities via long-term contracts. The chart showing a 2018 “Electric Utilities” (dark blue) wind gigaWatthours increase is due to Rush Creek Wind.
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Notes
1 gigaWatthour =
1,000 megaWatthours =
1,000,000 kiloWatthours
Colorado Monthly Electric Wind Energy 2018:
Utility-Scale
March, April, January, June and December were the most productive months for wind-powered electric energy in 2018.
Linecurrents chart, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. (Tap/click to enlarge).
Colorado Windpark Sites:
Utility-Scale
Colorado’s utility scale windparks sites are on the eastern plains, where the wind “resource” is best. EIA map shows Colorado wind energy generating sites.
Colorado utility-scale windpower sites (windparks). EIA State Profile Overview: Colorado. (Tap/click to enlarge).
Colorado Average Windspeed at 80 Meters Above Terrain
Colorado’s highest annual average windspeeds occur on the eastern plains (purples, red & orange). Map windpeeds shown are average, not constant. Windspeeds are often below wind-turbine generator’s (WTG’s) minimum start-up speed ratings.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Colorado map: average windspeed at 80 meters above terrain.
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- Notes to above section & NREL map -
NREL map windspeeds are meters per second (m/s). Convert to miles per hour (mph) . . multiply m/s by 2.237.
EXAMPLE
10 m/s = 22.37 mph
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Power of wind is proportional to wind-velocity-cubed. Windspeed reduction of half reduces power in the wind and WTG electric power by 1/8th.
EXAMPLE
at 10 m/s windspeed . . 1,000 kiloWatts-rated (1 megaWatt) utility-scale WTG achieves maximum electric generating output.
at 5 m/s windspeed . . same WTG output is 125 kiloWatts.
More Colorado wind energy info:
Seasonal Patterns: Colorado Monthly Wind Electric Energy 2001-2018
Linecurrents reportWind Energy in Colorado
PDF download - American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)AWEA State Wind Energy Facts
Interactive U.S. map to access States’ wind energy informationEIA State Profile Overview: Colorado
U.S. Energy Information Adminstraton
Colorado Electric Generating Capacity 2017
Windpower annual power output grew more than 10X from 2006 to 2017.
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Windpower is Colorado’s largest non-carbon electric power source
2017 rankings - electric energy sources
54.31% coal combustion
23.28% natural gas combustion
17.30% wind turbines
Windpower electric energy annual production:
increased 1,076% from 2006 to 2017
achieved an annual average growth rate of 24%
EIA graph with Linecurrents edits.
Notes - above graph:
1 gigaWatthour = 1,000 megaWatthours = 1,000,000 kiloWatthours
Colorado Electric Utility Carbon Dioxide Emissions Declining
Coal CO2 combustion emissions peaked in 2006.
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Coal and petroleum CO nearly equal in 2015
Linecurrents graph -- EIA data
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates for annual carbon dioxide (CO2) gas emissions by fuel type due to combustion by Colorado consumers and industries are shown above. Calendar year 2015 data is the latest annual estimate available from EIA. Values are million metric tons (MMT).
Coal CO2 combustion emissions peaked in 2006 at 37.2 MMT. Electric utility powerplants are the largest consumers of coal in Colorado.
Petroleum Products CO2 combustion emissions peaked in 2007 at 35.1 MMT. Transportation consumes the majority of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, and aircraft fuel.
Natural Gas CO2 combustion emissions peaked in 2009 at 27.9 MMT. Natural gas combustion occurs in:
furnaces and boilers for residential, commercial and industrial indoor air heating
water heaters - residential, commercial and industrial
electric utility gas-fired turbine power generators.
The EIA Colorado estimates reveal that coal and petroleum CO2 combustion emissions were nearly equal in 2015 -- see chart above, red and and yellow lines crossing at right.
32.1 MMT - Coal
32.0 MMT - Petroleum
State of Colorado Statutes define Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) for electric utilities. RPS requires Colorado electric utilities to generate or purchase electric energy from wind-turbines, solar-PV and other "renewable" sources to reduce electricity generated by carbon-based fuel generators.
Colorado has no RPS requirements for transportation and buildings.
Colorado's Award-Winning Windpower Electric Co-ops
DOE Wind Cooperatives of the Year 2014.
8-megaWatt Huerfano River Wind north of Walsenburg, CO - August 2013. Photo from energy.gov by the author for San Isabel Electric Association.
U.S. Department of Energy “Wind Cooperatives of the Year - 2014”
Award honors electric cooperatives that demonstrate outstanding leadership in advancing U.S. wind power
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) recognized two Colorado electric member-owned utilities as the 2014 WINDExchange Wind Cooperatives of the Year. The awardees were Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-State), based at Westminster -- and San Isabel Electric Association (San Isabel) of Pueblo West.
"This award honors electric cooperatives that demonstrate outstanding leadership in advancing U.S. wind power, and together, Tri-State and San Isabel are expanding the use of low-cost wind energy, and supporting job creation and economic development within their service territories," stated DOE at energy.gov.
The dual recipients were selected by a panel of industry, government, and national laboratory judges, and were evaluated on their corporate leadership, project innovation, and benefits to customers. The presentation occurred at an NRECA conference in early 2015.
Tri-State, headquartered at Westminster, began integrating wind energy into the electricity it supplies in 1998, and serves more than 1.5 million customers across 200,000 square miles in four states.
San Isabel, at Pueblo West, is one of Tri-State’s members. The electric co-op installed it's first anemometer towers to collect windspeed and direction data and assess the wind potential in Huerfano County in 2004.
Two taller towers replaced the original a few years later. San Isabel worked with Huerfano County ranchers to obtain more test sites. Linecrews assembled, erected, and dis-assembled towers.
The original data collection system consisted of a recorder mounted on each tower. Data retrieval required a monthly trip to each tower to exchange data cartridges, and mailing to an analysis center. San Isabel replaced this technique with cellphone transmitters to deliver fresh readings daily to utility headquarters for local analysis and storage.
With more than two years of windspeed and direction logs from the best two sites tested, San Isabel was ready to attempt a windpower project.
Discussion with a project developer/owner began in late 2009. San Isabel's system engineering department proposed a location a few miles north of the anemometer towers and 1/4 mile from a modern SIEA substation. Electric power transmission lines which connect to the substation are seen in the foreground of the photo above. This site was the best available for transporting a large amount of windpower over San Isabel's transmission lines to more distant substations, and ultimately, to member-consumers.
Construction by the developer/owner commenced in early summer 2013. Tri-State installed equipment to carry windpower readings from San Isabel's substation control-house data collection and communications hub to the Tri-State system control center at Westminster. San Isabel engineers prepared fail-safe schemes in a substation circuit breaker controller, and in the data/comm hub, to automatically disconnect the wind-turbines if a future interruption ever occurred on the local or regional power transmission grids, as required by electric power industry regulations.
San Isabel energized (connected) the four 2-megaWatt turbines via buried high-voltage cable in mid'-September 2013 for testing. Commercial service commenced October 1 -- favorable wind produced full capacity output a few days later.
Western Area Power Administration described San Isabel's Huerfano River Wind as "the largest community-owned, distributed generation wind facility in the region" in its April 2015 Energy Services Bulletin.
More reading:
U.S. DOE - energy.gov - EERE Success Story
Note: the author of this report was system engineering manager at San Isabel during the period described above, and was assigned responsibility for obtaining project approval from Tri-State, and technical preparations for wind-turbines electrical "interconnection" to the substation.