Wind farm planned in Colorado

Akron, CO— Greenlight Energy, Inc., an independent power producer of wind energy, announced it has received approval from the Washington County Commission to develop a large-scale wind farm near the town of Akron that could provide enough clean energy to meet the annual needs of up to 90,000 homes.

The permit allows Greenlight Energy to develop the 200 to 300-megawatt Akron wind farm project on over 15,000 acres in rural Washington County. Construction on the estimated $250-350 million project could begin as early as 2006 after completion of a power purchase agreement and remaining development work. The project is one of the largest wind energy developments announced to-date and the largest planned in Colorado—a state ranked 11th in the nation for wind energy potential.

Three utilities have transmission facilities in Northeastern Colorado proximate to the facility. They are: Xcel Energy, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Western Area Power Administration. Colorado requires the state’s largest utilities to obtain 10 percent of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2015.