Rancher
10-12-2007, 07:09 AM
Just recently the new 250+ tower Wind/Electric generation farm, reportedly covering close to 25,000 total acres, has been almost completed North of Grover, Colorado. The news reports say that this is the the most modern technologically advanced wind/electric generation site in the country.
Yesterday I got a chance to visit with the manager of our local REA to get a handle on the advantages of the wind farm.
It seems that although this is the coming thing, the cost of generating electricty by wind power is greater than conventional means. In fact, XCEL Energy, Touchstone, and other providers, add a monthly charge on each electric bill for anyone willing to pay the extra cost of using wind generated power.
It was also pointed out to me that comparing two of our local power producers, the Rawhide Coal Fired Power Plant, owned and bulit by Poudre Valley Authority, and the new Grover Wind Farm, there are some significant differences.
One is that the Rawhide Plant, the cleanest Coal Fired Plant in the nation, covers only 500 acres. It was pointed out that in order to produce an equal amount of electric power on a continuing basis, the new wind farm whould have had to cover over 4000 Square miles, approximatelythe size of Weld County, where it is located. The cost to date of constructing and installing the wind farm has already exceeded the cost of constructing the Rawhide Power Plant built just 20+years ago. Yet there is a very large cost yet to be funded to develop and install the distribution and storage system to bring the power from the wind farm to the power grid so it can be used. It is reported that the estimated cost for developing and constructing the distribution system from the wind farm to Denver, where the power is slated for use, will exceed the cost of constructing the Wind farm itself.
The reports of this project, within the past month have appeared in the Denver, Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins, Colorado newspapers, along with radio and TV reports.
I don't know how this compares to other sites, but I thought that it was interesting to know.
Yesterday I got a chance to visit with the manager of our local REA to get a handle on the advantages of the wind farm.
It seems that although this is the coming thing, the cost of generating electricty by wind power is greater than conventional means. In fact, XCEL Energy, Touchstone, and other providers, add a monthly charge on each electric bill for anyone willing to pay the extra cost of using wind generated power.
It was also pointed out to me that comparing two of our local power producers, the Rawhide Coal Fired Power Plant, owned and bulit by Poudre Valley Authority, and the new Grover Wind Farm, there are some significant differences.
One is that the Rawhide Plant, the cleanest Coal Fired Plant in the nation, covers only 500 acres. It was pointed out that in order to produce an equal amount of electric power on a continuing basis, the new wind farm whould have had to cover over 4000 Square miles, approximatelythe size of Weld County, where it is located. The cost to date of constructing and installing the wind farm has already exceeded the cost of constructing the Rawhide Power Plant built just 20+years ago. Yet there is a very large cost yet to be funded to develop and install the distribution and storage system to bring the power from the wind farm to the power grid so it can be used. It is reported that the estimated cost for developing and constructing the distribution system from the wind farm to Denver, where the power is slated for use, will exceed the cost of constructing the Wind farm itself.
The reports of this project, within the past month have appeared in the Denver, Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins, Colorado newspapers, along with radio and TV reports.
I don't know how this compares to other sites, but I thought that it was interesting to know.