A confluence of events has ignited a soaring growth in the number of wind power installations in Colorado in recent years. State and federal incentives, growing environmental concerns, and economic development opportunities are among the motives that spurred wind power installations from 291 megawatts (MW) of nameplate capacity in 2006 to 1,067 MW (nameplate capacity) in 2007. According to the Annual Rankings Report by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Colorado is the second-fastest-growing wind energy producer in the United States (Texas is first). In terms of resource potential, Colorado currently ranks 11th out of all 50 states (AWEA, January 2008). A report of the Task Force on Renewable Resource Generation Development Areas has identified eight wind generation development areas in Colorado, with the combined potential to generate 96,000 MW or 96 gigawatts (GW) of capacity (Renewable Resource Generation Development Areas Task Force, 2007). Due to the vast resource capacity and the sudden wind power development, it is pertinent to analyze the economic impact that 1,000 MW have already generated in Colorado. These impacts can be scaled to obtain a sense of the economic development opportunities associated with other new wind scenarios, including the 20% Wind Energy by 2030 scenario (U.S. Department of Energy, 2008). Furthermore, this report can be used by interested parties in other states that currently lack a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) as an example of the potential economic impacts if they were to adopt 1,000 MW of wind power development. Of course, each state has unique resource constraints, characteristics, and policies. Information such as property tax values, land leases, and manufacturing bases would have to be substituted depending on local information.
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