Xcel Energy Cuts Deal for Lamar Wind Farm

August 28, 2002 (from the Rocky Mountain News)

Xcel Energy has reached an agreement with GE Power Systems to move forward on a controversial wind power project near Lamar, Xcel officials confirmed Tuesday.

"Our negotiations are completed with GE, and we have to move forward to get the Public Utilities Commission's approval at this point," said Xcel spokesman Steve Roalstad.

Terms of the deal, in which Atlanta-based GE Power would build and operate the wind farm and Xcel would buy the electricity generated from it, weren't disclosed.

The wind farm will cost about $160 million to build, according to U.S. Department of Energy estimates.

The original plan called for Enron Wind, a subsidiary of Enron Corp., to build and operate the wind farm and Xcel to buy the power from Enron Wind.

But plans for the 162-megawatt wind farm were jeopardized late last year when Enron filed for bankruptcy.

Xcel broke off talks with Enron and didn't reopen negotiations until March, after the government approved production tax credits for companies using wind power and GE Power agreed to buy Enron Wind from Enron.

If the new deal gets PUC approval and GE Power works out facility ownership rights with Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power, Lamar could be the home of the Golden Prairie Wind Farm by the end of next year, said AEP spokesman Steven Williams.

AEP is still in negotiations with GE to buy the ownership rights to the wind farm, Williams said. "It's not completely a done deal," he said. "But we're excited about this project because if it continues as we expect it to, it's a very sizable project."

The Colorado PUC had ordered Xcel to put the Lamar wind farm project into its electricity supply plan. It won't be a part of Xcel's voluntary Wind Source program, in which customers voluntarily pay more for power generated by wind, Roalstad said.

Instead, the wind power is a portion of the 2,000 megawatts of new power supply slated to begin flowing in Colorado by the end of 2003. The higher cost to generate electricity from the Lamar wind farm will be split among all Colorado Xcel customers.