Small-town wind garden grows from large-scale wind farm
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| Contractors install the blades on Lamar's first wind turbine. The city commissioned the 1.5-MW unit on Feb. 27. (Photo courtesy of Lamar Light and Power) |
Like an enormous tree sending out roots, the 162-MW Colorado Green Wind Farm, in the southeastern part of the state, caused the nearby city of Lamar to sprout its own small wind project.
The four 1.5-MW turbines of the Lamar Wind Energy Project may look like a mere window box garden next to Colorado Green's 108 units, but Lamar Light and Power expects them to supply about 14 percent of the city's electricity by year's end. "We commissioned three of the turbines Feb. 27, and we've been resolving some start-up issues," said Electricity Superintendent Rick Rigel. "The turbines are expected to produce some power about 90 percent of the time."
Gas prices drive need to control energy destiny
That's an impressive energy portfolio makeover for a utility that only a year ago relied on a natural gas-fired powerplant. Rising natural gas prices forced the city to close the plant in April 2003 and buy coal-fired and hydropower from Arkansas River Power Authority. Now, Lamar sells renewable energy to its power supplier.
Rigel and his predecessor, Leon Sparks, agreed that Lamar owes its status as a clean power producer in large part to the construction of the Colorado Green Wind Farm. "When [initial developer] Enron came into the area, we started to wonder why we couldn't do the same thing," recalled retired Superintendent Sparks.
In February 2001, the municipal utility borrowed an anemometer from Western's Equipment Loan Program to collect wind data with an eye on adding up to 5MW. Obstacles arose, however, when the city learned it would have to pay a wheeling fee to get power from the site being studied. Then Enron dropped the project.
Wind farm brings development resources to rural area
The idea "really grew legs again," according to Sparks, when Xcel Energy and General Electric Wind signed a contract in October 2002 to build the nation's third largest wind farm in Prowers County. "Wind development is a very specialized field, and all of the sudden, this project brought a lot of specialists to our area," he stated. "We couldn't mistake opportunity knocking."
"Coat-tailing on Colorado Green gave us the economy of scale we needed to make our own project feasible," concurred Rigel. "GE doesn't sell just three or four turbines."
Coat-tailing also meant working within the wind farm's schedule. Lamar stepped up testing and found a site on private land within three miles of the distribution system, closer by six miles than the original site choice.
SeaWest Windpower, a consulting firm working on Colorado Green, bid the construction contract for Lamar, and GE sold the city three turbines. ARPA bought a fourth unit to install on the site. GE also provided maintenance contracts, a critical consideration for any utility thinking about building its own wind project, said Rigel. "If our turbines malfunction, the repair crews are close by."
Supplier's support helps control green energy costs
Keeping the turbines online is important not only for generating energy but for recouping the city's investment. To finance the equipment and construction, Lamar Utilities Board sold $6 million of revenue bonds. The bonded indebtedness is for 20 years with annual payments in excess of $400,000.
"Good performance and longevity are the biggest part of making wind energy affordable," said Rigel. "Our fuel costs are fixed—we don't have any. But we are paying on the bonds whether the turbines are generating or not."
So far, thanks to the proximity of a large-scale wind producer, and the cooperation of ARPA, Lamar residents and other ARPA customers enjoy competitively priced wind power. "There's strong support for wind here because our customers see it as a local product," said Sparks. "Our surveys showed that a lot of them would be willing to pay a premium for it."
Instead of charging a green tariff, though, ARPA blends Lamar's wind energy into the generation mix and sells it at blended prices. Rigel praised ARPA, adding that utilities needed to work closely with their suppliers when setting up renewable generation projects.
Green tag sales or the passage of an energy bill that contains a renewable energy credit could help to improve the wind project's economic picture, too. The biggest incentive, however, was the opportunity to stabilize the city's energy supply in a way that might benefit the community. By taking a few "clippings" from the nation's third largest wind farm, Lamar found an economical way to start its own energy plot that may yet grow into victory garden.
