Wind and Solar Land Leasing in El Paso County, Colorado

A decade-old wind facility, and a real expansion proposal in motion

NextEra Energy Resources activated the Golden West Wind Energy Center -- 145 wind turbines -- in El Paso County's eastern plains in 2015, and Xcel Energy holds a purchase agreement to buy power from the facility for its roughly 1.6 million Colorado customers. This is not a speculative or early-stage project; it's an established piece of the local landscape and economy that's been operating for roughly a decade.

More recently, NextEra has proposed expanding the facility with an additional 47 to 49 turbines generating about 130 megawatts, sited north of Harrisville Road, east of Ramah Highway, and south of Alford Road -- covering roughly 14,520 acres of private and state land, with an 11.5-mile transmission line to connect it. The new turbines would stand 500 feet tall and be spaced farther apart than the existing installation. NextEra has held public open houses on the proposal in Calhan, and it has drawn organized local opposition, including neighbors near Calhan citing health concerns about turbine proximity. If a parcel you're considering sits within or near this expansion footprint, that's a live, contested land-use process, not settled fact -- confirm current project status and any specific parcel's relationship to it directly rather than assuming the expansion will proceed as originally proposed.

The regional transmission buildout behind the interest

Both the existing wind facility and the proposed expansion sit within a broader pattern: a major regional transmission buildout intended to carry wind and solar power generated across Colorado's Eastern Plains -- spanning roughly a dozen counties -- to Front Range population centers. Developers have been signing leases with ranchers and farmers across this broader region as that transmission capacity comes online, which is the same dynamic driving renewable-energy interest in other eastern Colorado counties. For a specific El Paso County parcel, this means regional enthusiasm for wind and solar doesn't automatically translate into an active lease or project on that particular property -- treat any marketing reference to "renewable energy potential" as a claim to verify, not a fact to assume.

What to verify before treating a lease or nearby project as a value driver

• Whether a specific parcel is inside NextEra's proposed expansion footprint (the area north of Harrisville Road, east of Ramah Highway, south of Alford Road) or simply near it, since only parcels actually within a project's leased or optioned area see direct lease income.
• Current permitting and public-hearing status for the expansion proposal with El Paso County Planning and Community Development, given documented local opposition that could affect the timeline or scope.
• For a parcel already under an executed lease, the payment structure (signing bonus versus per-turbine or per-acre royalty) and whether payments depend on the project reaching operational status.
• Any county road-use, right-of-way, or setback requirements that would apply to construction traffic or turbine placement near an adjacent parcel, even one not directly leased.