Cutting the official ribbon for the Two Buttes II wind farm are (left to right) Jack Johnston,
Southeast Colorado Power Association; Mark Stacy, Avangrid Renewables; Prowers County Commissioner, Ron Cook; Susan Hunter, Tri-State Generation and Transmission; and Mark Perryman, Avangrid Renewables.
The addition of more renewable wind power for electric cooperatives buying their electricity from Tri State Generation and Transmission Association was celebrated Wednesday, May 23 at the wind farm south of Lamar.
Representatives from Avangrid Renewables, which owns the project; Tri-State, which buys the power; Southeast Colorado Power Association, which serves the project with electricity; Prowers County; and Lamar were on hand to celebrate. The project’s construction brought about $5 million into the area and the wind farm now provides 11 full-time jobs.
It also benefits Colorado’s electric co-ops. According to Tri-State Senior Manager of Communications and Public Affairs Lee Boughey, the G&T is purchasing the power from the project for the next 25 years. That electricity will be put on Tri-State’s transmission network and supplied to its 43-member systems across Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico.
That additional wind power means that 30 percent of the electricity now utilized by consumers with Tri-State member cooperatives is from renewable resources.
It also means that the electric co-ops have brought economic development to rural parts of the state. “Tri-State deserves a lot of credit for not only bringing on a clean renewable source of energy to this region, but for driving substantial investments in this part of the state,” said Paul Copleman, communications manager for Avangrid Renewables.
Southeast Colorado Power Association CEO Jack Johnston noted that his co-op also welcomes more wind turbines to the area. “We’re excited that of all places, that [in] this area we can leverage the Colorado resources of sun and wind for the benefit of not only this area but the state as well,” he said.
The wind project went on line in December. Since then SECPA also added a 4-megawatt solar project just south of the wind farm.