Despite Chilly Climate, It’s Business As Usual For Wind, Solar Energy In Wyoming

The climate for wind and solar power has been getting downright chilly in the Cowboy State, but no one in that sector appears to be freaking out yet.

That’s despite recent executive orders from President Donald Trump calling for a moratorium and review of wind leases. Trump has said point blank he doesn’t want to see even one more wind tower built in the U.S. 

And it’s also despite a string of bills in the Wyoming legislature that seek to place moratoriums on more renewables.

Or, at the very least, place fossil fuels in a place of primacy over renewables, with bills like State Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle’s, “Make Carbon Great Again” bill, or Senate Joint Resolution 4, which asks Gov. Mark Gordon to oppose “future promotion and subsidization of commercial wind and solar power generation in the state of Wyoming and promote efforts that provide Wyoming’s stable dispatchable base load energy to all of Wyoming’s citizens.”

Steinmetz’s bill failed to advance out of committee, while Senate Joint Resolution 4 (SJ 4) was sent to the Senate Floor for further consideration.

Gov. Mark Gordon’s office said the governor will remain committed to an “all of the above” energy policy, which “supports all types of energy production, including wind.”

“It remains to be seen what the on-the-ground effect of the new Trump executive orders will have on wind energy projects in Wyoming,” the spokesman continued.

That attitude seemed to sum up the response of Wyoming wind and solar interests. Those few who would talk about it anyhow.

Dispatchable Power? No Problem!

The catch phrase “dispatchable power” is what caught Florida-based BrightNight LLC’s attention in SJ 4, BrightNight Vice President of Communications Maribeth Sawchuk told Cowboy State Daily. “That’s really BrightNight’s differentiation,” she said. “We focus on renewable power that is dispatchable in the same way that a coal or natural gas plant might be.”

BrightNight is working on a $500 million “agrivoltaic” solar farm in Converse County, near Glenrock. The solar arrays will be integrated with sheep grazing. 

While on the surface that may sound like a publicity stunt, it’s actually a combination with some synergy. 

“If you think about it, in any Wyoming shade, there will be plant growth,” BrightNight Director of Development Nathan Campbell told Cowboy State Daily. “That’s because plants need water to grow, and shade creates more opportunities for them to retain water.”

The solar panels are movable, which means they can be turned to create different shade patterns, to maximize both plant growth and energy collection throughout the day.

Dispatchability, meanwhile, comes in the form of battery systems. Those, Campbell added, have already been approved for the project. 

Campbell and Sawchuk also pointed out that their project is all on private property. That minimizes their exposure to federal permitting, and their project already has a thumbs up from the Wyoming Industrial Siting Commission.

“There’s been a lot of work prior,” Campbell said. “So, this site’s been pretty well-vetted. It takes about two years to get through the ISC.”

Words Are Just Words, Not Laws

Being on private property generally means a wind or solar project won’t actually need any federal permits. That private property caveat is something that heartens many of Wyoming’s wind companies, and it’s particularly heartening to Laramie-based startup, Airloom Energy, which is seeking to completely change wind towers, making them not only more efficient and less costly, but shorter and much less noticeable on the landscape.

Airloom CEO Neal Rickner told Cowboy State Daily that he’s not worried about the increasingly chilly climate for renewables just yet, because all of his projects are on private land so far, and, if need be, could remain so. 

He doesn’t expect to need any federal permits.

Meanwhile, the landowners he has talked to about his project are, so far, excited about the opportunity, which they generally see as a secondary income for farming and ranching operations. 

That’s become increasingly important to most family farms, in a world where the commodity prices paid for agricultural products generally hasn’t been keeping pace with the costs to produce them. 

“We’re also the beneficiary of tremendous support from the state of Wyoming, and, at least as far as we can tell, that support is going to continue,” Rickner said. “We’ve got the Wyoming Business Council, we’ve got the Wyoming Energy Authority — both in our corner. And from the perspective of a really small, small company that’s just trying to get on its feet, we’re in the business of creating economic growth, jobs, and energy that the country needs.”

Airloom would, however, like for federal tax credits to remain in place.

“That’s the primary sort of government support we’re hoping for from the federal level,” Rickner said. “And that’s a law that would have to be changed in Congress.”

Words, Rickner added, don’t change laws. So, he’s hoping that the healthy number of red states that are beneficiaries of renewable tax credits will help keep those tax credits in place. Failing that, he believes changing the laws in Congress will take time, which he hopes creates enough of a runway for him to get his own company off the ground.

“I think there’s reason to be optimistic those tax credits will persist,” Rickner said. “And we’re focused on creating a great technology that creates economic activity — jobs, etc. Airloom is still in that spot where we could really create a lot of economic activity for Wyoming, if we’re successful in what we’re doing.”

Big Wind Also Not Worried

Wyoming’s biggest wind development is Power Company of Wyoming LLC’s Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project (CCSM), backed by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz.

The $5 billion project is located south of Sinclair and Rawlins on a 320,000-acre ranch owned and operated by what Power Company of Wyoming describes as an “affiliate company” in Carbon County. With Class 6 and 7 wind — the best in the country — the project is expected to generate 3500 megawatts (MW), according to the company’s website. 

Power Company of Wyoming Vice President of Communications and Government Relations Kara Choquette told Cowboy State Daily the company has completed its environmental analysis and has already obtained the federal and state permits it needs.

“The recent news underscores the strength of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project,” she told Cowboy State Daily in an email, “Which is so far advanced in its development and construction that no other project is better set for success.”

Not only does the project have great wind assets, but it also already has direct access to “critical infrastructure such as transmission, rail, fiber, natural gas and water,” Choquette added.

“Together with complementary solar, battery, and gas generation projects under development at the site, the CCSM project will be producing American-made energy at an unmatched scale to supply diverse markets across the Western U.S.”

Wyoming Wind Has $10 Billion In Projects, Thousands Of Jobs 

Wyoming wind has attracted lots of developments to the Cowboy State besides the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project, and it’s expected to create thousands of jobs. 

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Wyoming Energy Authority to talk about the state’s wind industry, but an interview was declined.

According to WEA’s website, the state has 1,816 MW of wind online so far, the result of $3.3 billion already invested by wind developers and utility companies into the state, and there’s an additional 4,341 MW of wind under construction, which would raise the overall total investment to $10 billion.

Some of that $10 billion is reflected in PacificCorp’s Vision 2020 initiative that Wyoming Energy Authority links to on its webpage, which proposed $3.1 billion of investment, including 1,150 MW of new wind resources, including a 140-mile Gateway West transmission segment in Wyoming that will enable further wind generation.

The information in that vision plan is somewhat out of date, according to a Rocky Mountain Power spokesman.

The most current plan is the 2025 Integrated Resource Plan. That includes 486 MW of new wind generation by the end of 2028, 2,175 MW by the end of 203, and 6,379 MW of cumulative new wind by the end of 2045. 

Most of Rocky Mountain Power’s projects to date have just needed state-level approvals, Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Jona Whitesides told Cowboy State Daily.

“We do not have any new wind resources planned to come onto the system until 2028,” he said. “That could change in the next IRP update, but we won’t know that until we get there.”

At recent hearings over a 30% overall rate hike that Rocky Mountain Power had requested, many people questioned the utility company’s renewable power projects, in particular its Gateway South line, which the company said would integrate 1,600 MW of zero fuel-cost renewable generation, providing $12 million in net benefits for just three months of operation. 

RMP officials said then that the rate increases were not driven by renewables, and that higher energy costs were actually being offset by them. 

Rocky Mountain Power told Cowboy State Daily by email that it wouldn’t “speculate” on any impact from Trump’s executive orders on future federal policy. 

“Any changes in federal policy will be evaluated in our integrated resource planning process, which focuses on finding least-cost/least-risk scenarios, to best serve our customers,” an emailed statement said. “That planning process is conducted every two years with off-year updates.”

Not Many Wind Projects Slated For Federal Lands

Energy analyst firm Enverus has been tracking renewable energy projects in the nation and told Cowboy State Daily there aren’t many on-shore projects even across the country that are likely to be affected by Trump’s executive orders.

“We have a database tracking all the different power plants in North America, and so we had a look at all the ones that are on federal land,” Enverus Director of Energy Transition Research Ryan Luther told Cowboy State Daily. “There were 41 projects that are in the development or planning stages that are actually on federal land.”

For Wyoming, Luther said there are actually only two projects that might get snared by Trump’s order. 

These are Jeffrey City W1, an 80 MW project owned by EcoPlexus, which will need approval from the BLM, and Opal Wind, which is an 85.5 MW project by Energy of Utah in Lincoln County. It too needs BLM approval. 

Luther expressed skepticism that Trump’s order will be able to claw back any existing federal wind permits — though the order does call for a review of permits with an eye toward highlighting those where there might be a lawful rational to revoke.

“The outcome of that is a report,” Luther said, adding that he would be surprised if permits were yanked retroactively.

“That would not really be very supportive of business,” he said. 

And it would also invite lawsuits that might further entangle Trump’s effort to stop wind development. 

Rail Tie Wind Lever?

On the flip side, one group that is hoping Trump’s executive orders will have some heft and be able to act retroactively is the Albany County Conservancy, which has been fighting against the Rail Tie Wind Project in Albany County over concerns that wind turbines are decimating golden eagle and other bird populations. 

“Wyoming has the highest concentration of golden eagles on the continent, and Albany and Carbon counties have the most activity,” Albany County Conservancy’s Anne Brande told Cowboy State Daily. “It is so incredibly sad they are dying in such large numbers. Golden eagles are an indicator species for an ecosystem.”

Brande said that as much as 40% of golden eagle mortality in Wyoming is attributable to wind turbines, based on a recent National Fish and Wildlife study of satellite-tagged birds. 

Rail Tie, meanwhile, is a 504 MW wind power project located on private and state land near Highway 287, outside of Tie Siding. The $500 million project is supposed to begin operation by the end of 2026, and would provide an estimated $45 million in state tax revenue over the project’s life and $131 million in tax revenue to Albany County. 

But the money isn’t worth it, Albany County Conservancy lobbyist Dennis Stolte told Cowboy State Daily. 

Stolte, who is largely retired, has a successful track record, helping to block a wind project in Maryland. He was motivated to help Albany County Conservancy because of his Wyoming roots.

“Even though I live in Maryland, I do come home quite often, several times a year,” he said. “I still have family in Wyoming and Colorado.”

The drive between Laramie and Fort Collins is a favorite. And it would be completely ruined by the Rail Tie wind project, he said.

“I was so distressed to hear that the Rail Tie project is very close to final approval and they’re going to be breaking ground this spring,” Stolte said. “I decided if that project goes in, I couldn’t live with myself if I hadn’t tried to stop it, because I think it’s going to be a complete disaster for the state of Wyoming. It’s going to add to the transformation of Wyoming that’s taking place due to industrial wind development.”

Stolte believes Trump’s executive orders do allow the president to reach backward and reconsider projects like Rail Tie Wind. He’s hoping that’s enough to pull the federal permit Rail Tie Wind has for connecting with Western Area Power Administration’s transmission line. 

“I think, more importantly, the concept, the comprehensive review that’s being required by the executive order is going to force a new look at Two Rivers, Chokecherry and Sierra Madre,” he added. “One because they’re not as far along, and two because they involve federal land.”

Whether those actions can be retroactive, which is what it would take in the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project, Stolte said he couldn’t answer. 

“But I think President Trump has been very bold in this executive order,” he said. “And I think there’s a possibility, and a good one, that the Rail Tie Wind project is going to have to pass muster on this.”

Stolte, like Trump, would also prefer not seeing another wind tower built, particularly in Wyoming.

“The wind farms are just hideous,” he said. “They’re transforming my beloved state of Wyoming into something I don’t recognize.”

The small amount of energy produced and the tax revenue just isn’t worth it, he added.

“As far as being the energy of the future, the small amount of energy they produce is expensive, it’s intermittent, and it’s unreliable,” he said. “And it kills birds and eagles and other precious wildlife. There’s really nothing environmentally friendly about it.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.