The developer behind the Laramie Range Wind Project has withdrawn its Laramie County permit request, pausing a proposal that was set to go before county commissioners next month.
ConnectGen Laramie County LLC, a Repsol Renewables affiliate, posted a note to the county’s permit record Monday saying the project is being withdrawn for now and will be resubmitted later.
Carol Farthing, a rancher near Iron Mountain who plans to lease part of her family’s land for the turbines, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday the company said it would not be ready to satisfy all of the conditions set by the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council before the upcoming Laramie County Planning Commission meetings.
Withdrawing the permit, she said, buys the developer more time to fulfill those conditions before the project goes to a vote.
“It’s not curtailed or anything like that,” Farthing said. “They’re not dropping it.”
The State’s Conditions
The Laramie Range Wind Project is a 650-megawatt wind farm that would put up to 139 turbines on roughly 41,200 acres of private and state land in northwestLaramie County, about 20 miles north of Cheyenne. Its footprint is more than twice the size of the city of Cheyenne.
Repsol pitched the project as a way to generate enough electricity to power about 200,000 Wyoming homes a year.
The project’s participating landowners include Farthing Ranch Co., True Ranches LLC and the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments. Lease payments to the state would provide revenue for Wyoming schools and other public institutions.
Its original proposal, which called for up to 170 turbines on 56,000 acres, was denied by Laramie County commissioners in a 3-1 vote in September 2025, after they raised concerns about access roads, fire mitigation and water well permits.
Repsol asked a judge to review that decision while it revised the plan and took it to the Industrial Siting Council.
The Wyoming Industrial Siting Council unanimously approved the project Sept. 1 after a two-day hearing, attaching 26 conditions to the state permit.
Jillian Scott, public information officer for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, told Cowboy State Daily the Industrial Siting Council has 45 days after its vote to issue its signed order, which lays out the specific conditions for a project.
45-Day Window Closes Friday
The Sept. 1 green light put the end of that 45-day window at this coming Friday. Scott said that because the deadline falls on a Friday, the final order might not be publicly available until the following week.
“After that is when we’ll know more about what those conditions are,” Scott said.
State approval was not the finish line, though. Laramie County commissioners still needed to decide whether the revised plan was compatible with the surrounding area.
Had the developer not withdrawn its application, the project would have gone before the Laramie County Planning Commission for a public hearing Oct. 22, followed by a final decision from the county commissioners Nov. 17.
Justin Arnold, head of the Laramie County Planning Commission, told Cowboy State Daily the withdrawal doesn’t change how the county will handle the permit once it’s resubmitted.
Arnold said he can’t recall another large energy project pulling a county application to buy more time to meet state conditions, but he said the developer might be responding to circumstances unique to this project.
“We don’t see that too often but it’s at the discretion of the applicant,” Arnold said.
The project’s application estimated that construction would begin by the fourth quarter of 2027, with both phases operating by the end of 2029.
Christi Schaefer, external relations and communications manager for Repsol Renewables North America, told Cowboy State Daily the company now plans to resubmit its county permits next year.
“Repsol remains committed to a thorough and transparent review process and looks forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to move the project forward,” Schaefer said.
Concerns Remain
Wendy Volk, a Cheyenne real estate agent whose family has worked the Dereemer Livestock Ranch in the Horse Creek area since the 1870s, shares a fence line with the Farthing Ranch and has opposed the project almost from the start.
In a text message to Cowboy State Daily, Volk said the recent withdrawal leaves her with questions about what’s next for the project.
“This development raises important questions about the project’s readiness to move forward and whether the concerns raised by surrounding residents, ranchers and property owners are being adequately addressed,” Volk said.
Volk has said the three years of construction, with hundreds of workers on site, would strain roads, water use and public-safety resources in an area that already has unreliable cell service and long distances to the nearest hospital.
She’s also pointed to the project’s application, which estimates construction would require 541 acre-feet of water.
“I recognize the importance of economic development, but responsible development must also protect existing communities, property owners, agricultural operations and natural resources,” Volk said.
The Laramie Range Wind Project comes as Cheyenne experiences a boom in wind, solar, natural gas and data center development. Beyond the strain of a single project, Volk said she fears the cumulative impact of them all.
“These developments cannot be evaluated solely as isolated projects when their construction schedules, infrastructure demands and environmental impacts may overlap,” she said.
Volk said the public deserves answers on why the applications were pulled and what will change when they are resubmitted.
Emma Jane Jackson can be reached at emma@cowboystatedaily.com.
