Xcel asks Colorado Supreme Court to facilitate wind farm interconnection

Xcel Energy's Colorado utility, Public Service Co. of Colorado (PSCo), is asking the state Supreme Court to step in on a land dispute that's holding up two large wind farms in eastern Colorado. The Singing Grass and Cheyenne Ridge II projects, together capable of producing more than 1 gigawatt of power, are essentially built but can't connect to the grid because of a fight over roughly 550 feet of land needed to link them to a substation. A district court judge sided with the landowner, Dryland Partners, in June, ruling that PSCo had negotiated in bad faith and misused its eminent domain power. PSCo disputes that and wants the higher court to resolve the question quickly.

For homeowners, this case is a reminder that even finished wind and solar projects can sit idle for a long time over grid-connection and land-rights fights, not just permitting or construction delays. PSCo says the holdup is adding costs, including for standby crews, and that a legal loss could raise expenses for the utility's customers statewide. The company serves customers across Colorado, so how this plays out could eventually show up in electricity rates or in the pace at which new renewable power reaches the grid in the state.

There's nothing here that requires action from homeowners now. It's a dispute between the utility and a private landowner working through the courts, with no set timeline for resolution — PSCo says a decision could take more than a year even without Supreme Court involvement.