El Paso County wind farm lawsuit dismissed

A lawsuit over a nearly finished wind farm near Calhan was dismissed Wednesday.

The suit was filed by people who live in the area and sought to overturn the Board of County Commissioners approval of the project.

The original wind farm plan, including some 147 turbines spread over nearly 25,000 acres received final approval from the Board of County Commissioners after a hearing on December 19, 2013. Commissioners approved requested changes to transmission line locations following a public hearingFebruary 5, 2015.

The county says all 145 concrete foundations to support the wind turbine towers have now been completed, some 301 utility poles to support nearly 29 miles of transmission line are in place, all of the tower and turbine components are now onsite and 120 of the authorized 145 turbines are now fully erected. It says none of the turbines will be fully operational and producing power until remaining electrical work at each turbine and the electric transmission infrastructure is complete.

El Paso County says roads that were used as haul routes during construction are being restored, as per the development agreement, and that in many causes the haul route roads will be in better condition than they were before the project.

A company called NextEra is behind the wind farm.