Wind Power

Xcel Energy is the nation's No. 1 wind power provider.

On June 25, 2007 Xcel Energy announced plans to build and own a 100-megawatt wind farm in Mower County near Austin, Minnesota. The proposed Grand Meadow Wind Farm is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2008. Read more about the Grand Meadow Wind Farm. As of early 2008, we had over 2700 megawatts of wind energy capacity in service. We expect to grow to 7400 megawatts in service by 2020. We also are the leader in offering our customers choice in buying renewable energy. Through our Windsource® program, customers can specify that part or all of their electricity be generated by the wind. If you are an Xcel Energy electricity customer in Colorado, New Mexico or Minnesota, you can purchase Windsource® wind power for your home or business.

Colorado and Wyoming

We're proud to have built Colorado's first commercial wind farm, our 30-megawatt Ponnequin Wind Farm in northern Colorado. We have purchased the entire energy output of the state's second wind farm, Ridgecrest near Peetz as well as the 162 megawatt Colorado Green wind farm near Lamar and the 60 megawatt Spring Canyon wind farm near Peetz . In 2007, we added 775 megawatts of new wind capacity in four projects, Peetz Table, Logan Wind, Twin Buttes and Cedar Creek. By year-end 2007, we have a total of 1085 megawatts of wind capacity – 1060 from Colorado and 25 from Wyoming.

Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota

We have a total of 1035 megawatts of wind energy capacity in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota as of year-end 2007. Most of this is located in southwestern Minnesota. In 2007, we added another 355 megawatts in Minnesota at the Fenton and MinnDakota projects for a total of 973 megawatts of Minnesota wind capacity. The North Dakota wind power is from a 12 megawatt project located near Minot. In 2007, we added approximately 50 megawatts of wind capacity in South Dakota in the MinnDakota project.

Current Wind Projects:

Minnesota: Read more information about Nobles-Merricourt.

North Dakota: Read more information about Merricourt Wind Project.

Texas and New Mexico

We have a total of 576 megawatts of wind energy capacity in Texas and New Mexico as of year-end 2007. In 2007, we added 161 megawatts of wind capacity from the Wildorado Wind Ranch in Oldham and Potter counties for a total of 374 megawatts of wind energy capacity in Texas. We offer customers in New Mexico wind power through New Mexico's first voluntary wind energy program. At year-end 2007, we received 202 megawatts of wind wind energy capacity from Caprock Wind Ranch in Quay County, Llano Estacado and the San Juan Mesa facility near Elida, New Mexico.