Time for Colorado to adopt comprehensive wind farm standards

Catherine the Great said, “a great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.” Without question, this is true in Colorado as Colorado ranks eleventh in the nation for its potential to generate energy from wind. With technological advances leading to taller turbines with longer blades, the National Renewable Energy Lab recently updated its wind maps for Colorado, which now show even greater wind energy potential for Colorado. Since Colorado has already mandated that large utilities must obtain 30% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and development of utility-scale wind farms is now viable in a larger portion of the Eastern Plains and all along the Front Range, the state is primed for increased utility-scale wind farm development. As such, Colorado should adopt a state-wide comprehensive framework for siting utility-scale wind farms in anticipation of such development.

Currently, Colorado consists of a hodgepodge of state, local and municipal approval and permitting processes for siting utility-scale wind farms (or worse yet, in some counties and municipalities no such processes are currently in place), resulting in slower and more costly development. Colorado can foster this wind development by providing a common set of state-wide standards for wind energy developers, local governments and residents. Such standards should be drafted to:  (i) assure the safe and effective production of wind-generated electricity; (ii) advance the economic opportunities for local governments and residents resulting from the development of utility-scale wind farms; and (iii) promote the supply of wind energy to help utilities meet the state’s renewable portfolio standard. With the potential that utility-scale wind farms could be developed throughout the Eastern Plains and all along the Front Range, the siting of such projects is a matter of state-wide concern which justifies the adoption of state-wide standards. The existing piecemeal approach will only lead to inconsistent rulings, unnecessary obstacles to development and overall inefficiencies.