Last December, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners gave their final approval for Fowler Energyís Golden West Power Project (wind farm) in Calhan, Colo. During the same month the commissioners gave their blessings, Fowler Energy sold the project to NextEra Energy Resources, putting the initial starting date of construction of the 147 turbine project on hold.Dave Stengel, director of communications with NextEra Energy Resources, said it is part of NextEra energy, which is the publicly traded entity. Stengel said NextEra has been in the wind and solar business since 1989, and the company also owns nuclear power and natural gas power plants. Currently, NextEra has about 100 wind projects in North America, five are in Colorado. ìNextEra Energy Resources is No. 3 in the world, and No. 1 in North America in wind and solar,î Stengel said.Stengel said the purchase was ìcontingent on further due diligence and analysis on the project, and that was finished the end of March.î El Paso County commissioners approved the purchase of the Golden West Power Project May 1.Because of the transition in ownership, construction plans were pushed back by about six months. David Gil, project manager, said the previous developer anticipated a completion date of June 2015. ìWe’re looking at December 2015 to be operational,î he said. ìWe can construct projects in a pretty condensed time frame,î Gil said.ìOnce we get the final turbines and a clear picture on construction we will put together a road use and haul plan.î They will then submit the details to the county. Gil said construction will begin in the spring of 2015, with road improvements as the first priority. Gil said that they sent out letters to landowners the last week of May informing them of the purchase. NextEra is reviewing the current contracts and plans, and ìpotentially making adjustments.î They are examining the location of turbines as well as possible changes to the placement of the lines.ìBased on the turbines we get, that will have some impact on placement and how many we use,î Gil said. ìWe won’t use more turbines as currently cited, but we could use less.î He said they have a wind logics team that could find that by moving the turbines they could produce more energy. Additionally, the turbines that General Electric is able to provide could potentially have a greater power rating than those planned under Fowler Energy.The current proposed 4 miles of buried lines could pose some problems, Gil said. ìThere are other utilities underground,î he said. ìIt’s a little like trying to thread a needle. It’s many multiples of times more expensive, maintenance is more difficult and underground creates uncertainties and issues.îNextEra is looking at options for the lines, but Gil said, ìAgain, I want to emphasize that this is preliminary.ìIf we were to make any changes, we’d have to go back to the county and do the rezoning and re-permitting for whatever changes we make.îThe county has made it clear that communicating things to the community is important. If we do find that we are going to make changes, we’ll go through the process of working with the county and community so everyone has input.îGil said the company will set up meetings with landowners and the community.
