100% Windpower
Green power is electricity produced from a subset of renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and low-impact hydro.
We are a 100% Wind Energy manufacturing facility
Thanks to XcelEnergy’s WindSource program in Colorado, we are able to provide our customer with a 100% Wind powered manufacturing facility. In addition, we also stock Mohawk paper – a 100% wind power manufactured paper.
Peetz Table Wind Power Plant
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Location: Northeastern Colorado, near Peetz.
Plant Description: 33 wind turbines.
Power Production Capabilities: Up to 30 megawatts (MW).
About The Facility: The Peetz Table Wind Power Plant is the second commercial wind farm in Colorado. The wind farm is located near Peetz in northeastern Colorado and can generate up to 30 megawatts of electricity for Xcel Energy’s Windsource®program.
Cinergy Global Power, an affiliate of Cinergy Corp. in Cincinnati, owns the wind farm. The facility was developed by enXco, based in the United States in North Palm Springs, Calif. Xcel Energy will purchase 77,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year from the facility, through a 15-year contract.
The wind farm at Peetz has 33 wind turbines – the first of their kind for a commercial operation in the U.S. NEG Micon manufactures the turbines and each can generate up to 900 kilowatts. Each unit consists of a 170-foot diameter rotor and a turbine, set on a 237-foot high tower. The total weight of each unit, including rotors, turbine and tower, is 164 tons.
Electricity from the wind farm is sold through Xcel Energy’s Windsource® program, one of the largest customer-driven wind power programs in the nation. With the addition of almost 30 megawatts of purchased wind energy, Xcel Energy offers nearly 60 megawatts of wind power to its 1.3 million electric customers in Colorado. One megawatt of wind power can serve approximately 300 residential homes.
Xcel Energy also generates 30 megawatts of electricity at its Ponnequin Wind Facility, located in northern Colorado just south of the Wyoming state line near Cheyenne. Power produced at Ponnequin is also sold through Xcel Energy’s Windsource® program.
From:http://www.xcelenergy.com/XLWEB/CDA/0,3080,1-1-1_1875_4797_4010-3671-2_358_564-0,00.html
Xcel Energy’s Windsource Program
Xcel Energy’s Windsource program is currently the largest utility green pricing program in the country. Now, operating in four states, Windsource customers have purchased over 1 billion kWh since the program began in Colorado in 1997. The program remains a vital part of Xcel Energy’s growing renewable portfolio and enables our customers to proactively purchase renewable energy to meet their personal and business needs.
Background
The Windsource program was originally established as a small, experimental, “value-priced” wind energy program in 1997. The Windsource program has morphed into a relatively large, mainstream, cost-based wind energy program. In June 2008 the Company filed an application with the Commission that redesigned the program to allow expansion of the Windsource program to accommodate the growing desire of customers to serve more of their energy usage with renewable energy. The original Windsource program was limited in its ability to add renewable resources in a cost-effective manner. There are significant economies of scale to be had in building wind farms or buying energy from wind farms that are larger rather than smaller; similarly, solar facilities benefit from these same economies of scale.
Windsource sales are credited to the Renewable Energy Standard Adjustment (“RESA”) account, which increases the amount of dollars available to acquire additional new renewable resources. Under this new program design, our customers who would like to see us exceed the RES requirements are able to voluntarily agree to pay more, and then we will build or buy more renewable resources. Public Service will retire RECs in proportion to the amount of Windsource sales above what is inherent in our portfolio. The Windsource premium is calculated assuming that Windsource customers are already paying for the system average level of renewable energy through their electric rates, so that when they elect for more renewable energy, the price paid reflects only the increment above system average. By this process, there is no double counting of RECs and no double charging.
From: 2010 Renewable Energy Standard Compliance Plan Volume 1 Public Service Company of Colorado