Western joins Denver Federal agencies to give 'green power' a second wind
by Carolyn Hinkley

Wind power is picking up speed among Federal agencies in the Denver Front Range area, including Western.

The Denver Federal Executive Board is spearheading a wind purchase initiative with Xcel Energy to advance the government's use of renewable energy technologies. Western and 30 other agencies from Colorado Springs to Boulder, Colo., have joined to commit to a combined 10-megawatt wind energy purchase in commemoration of Earth Day, 2000. Such a large purchase would be unprecedented by Federal agencies in the United States.

100-kWh blocks

In a three-year contract being negotiated with Xcel's Windsource Program, agencies can purchase 100-kilowatthour "blocks" of wind energy for 2.5 cents per kWh. While Western has not yet signed a contract, Administrator Mike Hacskaylo signed a Statement of Intent on March 3, 2000, stating Western's commitment to the program.

"Western is showing Federal leadership in procuring renewable energy," said Randy Manion, Western's Renewable Resources manager. "Other agencies can hopefully use this program as a model for the same type of aggregated renewable energy purchase in their cities."

For $1,250 per month, Western agreed to purchase 500 wind energy blocks for a total of 50,000 kWh for CSO's 97,000-square-foot building in Lakewood, Colo. This represents about 25 percent of CSO's 200,000 kWh monthly energy use.

Meeting requirements

By participating in this initiative, Western is supporting Executive Order 13123, which requires Federal agencies to serve 2.5 percent of their electrical loads with renewable energies by 2005.

"Promoting renewable resources assures diversity of supply, environmental benefits and a good opportunity to encourage further renewable resource development in the community," said Bob Fullerton, power marketing advisor at CSO.

When speaking about Western and the other agencies' commitment to the program, Jerry Kotas, a senior environmental scientist at DOE's Golden Field Office, said, "It's been a great experience working with all the champions in each agency who have a deep personal commitment to the issue. It's been an uplifting experience.

Generating interest

"This initiative has spurred tremendous interest in wind energy among other agencies around the country," he added. Kotas is helping to manage the project for DFEB. "It benefits the citizens of Colorado because it offsets the use of fossil fuel-based energy," he said.

DFEB hopes to finalize a contract with Xcel by January. "They have plans to deploy more wind, and this Federal purchase will accelerate those plans," said Randy Jones, regional Federal management program representative at DOE's Denver Regional office.

Windsource is touted by Xcel as the "largest customer-driven wind energy program in the country." Its current capacity is 56 MW. The company plans to add another 10 MW of wind generation to its Ponnequin Wind Facility in northern Colorado just south of the Wyoming state line. Fifteen new wind turbines came online in August.