FORT COLLINS, Colo. - A Wyoming wind power developer, Wind Holding LLC, has lost its $500 million contract with Colorado State University to build a wind farm at Maxwell Ranch near the Wyoming-Colorado border.

Wind Holding was to finance and build the wind farm on land leased from the university. CSU and Wind Holding would then sell the power to recoup construction costs. Wind Holding was not chosen through a competitive bidding process, but instead had approached the university.

According to an August article in the Wyoming Business Report eDaily, Wind Holding LLC was granted the contract in March of 2007 and was obligated to begin construction within two years. As of August, 2009, Wind Holding LLC had not submitted a construction permit for the wind farm and was given an additional 60 days to fulfill its obligations. According to a late September press release, the university gave a 30-day extension to the deadline because they understood that Wind Holding was engaged in talks to hand over its lease to a new developer.

In an Oct. 19 interview with the Rocky Mountain Collegian, Bruce Morley, CEO of Wind Holding LLC dismissed the deadline, saying that the contract his company has with CSU "is self-extending for things that are out of control like the financial crisis."

After the Oct. 31 deadline passed, CSU formally notified Wind Holding that the deal was off. Because Wind Holding was developing the site, all the planning done to date belongs to the company, so any new development will have to start from scratch.

Bill Farland, CSU's senior vice president for research and engagement, told the Coloradoan that the university still believes that the ranch is a good site for a wind farm, and that other developers remain interested in helping CSU move forward.