Glenwood Springs-based Holy Cross Energy (HCE) and Guzman Energy announced Friday they have signed an agreement with NGC Partners to build a 150-megawatt wind farm on Colorado’s Eastern plains.

According to a press release, Holy Cross intends to purchase 100MW of output from the MW Arriba Wind Farm, to be located in Lincoln County near Limon. That should be enough energy to supply approximately 30 percent of HCE’s annual energy requirements within its service area that covers much of Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties.

Guzman Energy will use the remaining 50MW to serve other communities in its customer base. Guzman has the option to commission another 50MW in increased project size, and expand its share of the project to 100MW, according to the press release issued by HCE. 

---

---

“The agreement we have signed today with Guzman Energy and NGC Partners is an important step in fulfilling our Seventy70Thirty commitment to clean energy, while maintaining reliable and affordable energy supply for our members and the communities they live in,” Steve Beuning, HCE vice president of power supply and programs, said in the release.

“These new and additional renewable energy resources extend our leadership of the responsible transition to a clean energy future, well in advance of our stated 2030 goals.”

---

---

The Seventy70Thirty renewable energy goals call for achieving 70 percent of HCE’s annual energy from clean and renewable sources, with a 70 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from 2014 levels no later than 2030.

HCE and Guzman Energy entered into a partnership last December to accelerate HCE’s progress toward meeting the goals without increasing power costs for their members, the release went on to explain.

“This new project is the culmination of a lot of hard work to implement a creative partnership and solution that will help western Colorado communities transition toward a cleaner, more affordable energy future,” Kathleen Staks, Guzman Energy’s director of external affairs, said in the release.

“We are proud to help HCE meet their ambitious energy goals and are excited to add more clean energy to our portfolio to benefit all of our customers.”

The new wind farm is scheduled to begin operations by mid 2021.