The Rush Creek Wind Project is a 600
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...
(MW)
wind facility in eastern
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, located west of the town of
Limon. It increased the wind generating capacity in the state by 20% when it came online in late 2018.
The facility is financed, owned, and operated by
Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
, the largest public utility in the state. The project was developed primarily for its numerous economic benefits since Xcel previously met the minimum 30% requirement of Colorado's 2020
renewable portfolio standard.
Facility details
The facility consists of two wind farms that occupy 95,000 acres of leased private land. The largest grouping of turbines is within
Elbert County Elbert County is the name of two counties in the United States:
*Elbert County, Colorado
*Elbert County, Georgia
Elbert County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population ...
near the community of
Matheson and located about 60 miles southeast of
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...
. A smaller grouping of turbines is located 35 miles east and spans the intersections of
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian languages, Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized tribe, federally recognize ...
,
Kit Carson
Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and ...
, and
Lincoln County near the town of
Hugo. 83 miles of new 345 kV overhead transmission line carry the electricity to the Xcel Energy substation near
Deer Trail
The Town of Deer Trail is a Statutory Town located in eastern Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,068 at the 2020 United States Census, a +95.60% increase since the 2010 United States Census. Deer Trail is a part ...
in
Arapahoe County.
Most components for the 300
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the U ...
2.0 MW turbines were produced at the four nearby manufacturing facilities in
Pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
,
Brighton, and
Windsor, Colorado
Windsor is a home rule municipality in Larimer and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town was 32,716. Windsor is located in the Northern Colorado region.
History
In 1873, a se ...
, which together employ about 3,500 people. Overall, it is estimated that each turbine supports about 30 jobs over the course of its lifetime through its manufacturing, supply chain, construction, and operation.
The facility is also expected to generate $180 million in landowner lease payments and property tax revenues in the counties where it resides.
Xcel Energy contracted
Invenergy
Invenergy is an American based multinational power generation development and operations company. The company develops, builds, owns and operates power generation and energy storage projects in the Americas, Europe and Asia, including wind, solar ...
to lead the development and asset management of the facility through the construction phase.
Mortenson Construction
The M.A. Mortenson Company, more commonly known under its Mortenson Construction brand, is an American construction company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with 2014 sales of (estimated) $3 billion.
Sports venues
Mortenson is noted as a ...
served as the
EPC EPC may refer to:
Government and politics
* Eastern Provincial Council, in Sri Lanka
* European Policy Centre, a Belgian think tank
* European Political Community (1952), a former political organization proposed in 1952
* European Political Co ...
contractor for the project. Construction began in June 2017 and completed in December 2018, employing about 350 workers. The facility consists of 300 turbines, two substations, maintenance building, access roads, and transmission lines.
About 34 permanent jobs were also created to maintain the facility, and Xcel has partnered with the Vestas operations group to assist with maximizing the electricity production. It is expected to generate enough electricity to meet the needs of about 325,000 Colorado homes.
Electricity production
(*) partial year of operation
See also
*
Wind power in Colorado
The US state of Colorado has vast wind energy resources and the installed electricity capacity and generation from wind power in Colorado has been growing significantly in recent years. The growth has been sustained due to a combination of falli ...
*
Environmental impact of wind power
The environmental impact of electricity generation from wind power is minor when compared to that of fossil fuel power. Wind turbines have some of the lowest global warming potential per unit of electricity generated: far less greenhouse gas ...
*
List of wind farms in the United States
This is a list of large wind farms in the United States. Many of the wind farms in the United States are located in the Great Plains.
Onshore wind farms
Listed are wind farms with a generating capacity of at least 150 megawatts (MW) or an ...
External links
Rush Creek Wind and Transmission Project - Fact Sheet
References
{{Wind power in the United States
Energy infrastructure completed in 2018
Wind farms in Colorado
Buildings and structures in Elbert County, Colorado
Buildings and structures in Lincoln County, Colorado