Big Western electric power generator plans 51-megawatt wind farm in eastern Colorado

Big Western power generator plans Colo wind farm

DENVER — A major regional power supplier has reached a deal to buy electricity from a new wind farm in Colorado.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association formally signed a 20-year deal on Monday to buy power from a wind farm that Duke Energy will build near Burlington in eastern Colorado.

The farm’s 34 turbines will produce 51 megawatts, enough for 12,000 to 14,000 households.

The wind farm is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. About 150 people will be needed to build it and four to eight full-time technicians will maintain it.

Tri-State, based in suburban Denver, supplies power to 44 electric cooperatives in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Duke Energy is based in Charlotte, N.C.