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Wind farm may tap retail, wholesale users

Retail and wholesale customers of Xcel Energy would share the cost of producing power from Colorado’s largest wind farm under a settlement proposed Thursday.

By Steve Raabe
Denver Post Business Writer

The $160 million wind farm, near Lamar in southeastern Colorado, would be the largest in the state. Its 162-megawatt output would be enough to provide electricity for about 160,000 households.

Unlike Xcel’s Wind Source program, in which customers can voluntarily pay more for wind-generated power, the Lamar wind farm would be built into Xcel’s regular rates.

At issue was whether only retail customers would pay for the wind farm’s power costs, or whether to include wholesale customers – such as rural electric associations and cooperatives that buy power from Xcel.

Xcel and other parties, such as the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel and the staff of the Public Utilities Commission, agreed on a settlement in which Xcel will seek federal approval to pass an undisclosed portion of the costs to wholesale customers.

The settlement must be approved by the PUC.

Prospects for the wind farm were iffy this year when Xcel broke off talks with Enron Wind after parent company Enron Corp. filed for bankruptcy in December.

GE Power Systems subsequently bought Enron Wind from Enron Corp., and Xcel agreed to buy the wind farm’s power.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E886537%257E,00.html

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