The Comanche Solar Project is a 120

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

( MW_AC)

photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

near the city of

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado ...

. It became the largest solar facility in the state when it came online in late 2016. The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of

Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four oper ...

, under a 25-year

power purchase agreement A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...

(PPA). Xcel determined through an open bid process that the PPA's terms were competitive with natural gas.

Construction details

The project occupies a total of about 900 acres split into two parcels that are adjacent to the coal-fired Comanche Generating Station; thus providing access to existing high-capacity substation and transmission infrastructure. It uses 502,056

Trina Solar Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (SSE: 688599, ), founded in 1997, manufactures, sells and does research and development on PV products, EPC and O&M. It also develops and sells smart micro-grid and multi-energy complementary systems and energy cloud-platf ...

polycrystalline silicon Polycrystalline silicon, or multicrystalline silicon, also called polysilicon, poly-Si, or mc-Si, is a high purity, polycrystalline form of silicon, used as a raw material by the solar photovoltaic and electronics industry. Polysilicon is produ ...

panels that are mounted in rows and onto single-axis trackers. The rows are organized into 75 blocks, and the electricity produced from each block is connected to the

electric grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

through an

inverter A power inverter, inverter or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the opp ...

built by

TMEIC ( ) is a joint venture between Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in industrial electric and automation systems for industrial plants. The company develops and produces power electronics apparatus, electr ...

. In early 2015,

SunEdison SunEdison, Inc. (formerly MEMC Electronic Materials) is a renewable energy company headquartered in the U.S. In addition to developing, building, owning, and operating solar power plants and wind energy plants, it also manufactures high purity po ...

awarded an EPC contract for the project to

Renewable Energy Systems The RES Group (Renewable Energy Systems) is a global renewable energy company which has been active in the renewable energy industry for over 30 years. Its core business is to develop, construct and operate large-scale, grid-connected renewable ...

(RES) of Broomfield. Work at the site began in August and proceeded through the winter months, with most

balance of system The balance of system (BOS) encompasses all components of a photovoltaic system other than the photovoltaic panels. This includes wiring, switches, a mounting system, one or many solar inverters, a battery bank and battery charger. Other optiona ...

(BOS) construction activities completed by April 2016. The panel installation, electrical integration, and acceptance testing proceeded through the summer, enabling the start of commercial operations in September. The completed facility is operated and maintained by

Swinerton Renewable Energy Swinerton is a commercial construction company that provides services in the United States for commercial office, retail, multi-family residential, hospitality, healthcare, education, energy, and the entertainment sectors. The company also provide ...

Development and ownership history

The project was originated by Community Energy, which completed many of the initial negotiations such as the

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News g ...

integration strategy, land leases, and required permits. SunEdison announced its acquisition of the project in July 2014 concurrent with the results of Xcel's open solicitation/competitive bid process. In August, SunEdison announced its strategy to finance the $253 million Comanche project using a novel

special purpose vehicle A special-purpose entity (SPE; or, in Europe and India, special-purpose vehicle/SPV; or, in some cases in each EU jurisdiction, FVC, financial vehicle corporation) is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited ...

named "First Reserve". As designed with its partner Everstream Capital Management, this funding mechanism - a special type of

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

- would expand to meet demand from new investors as Comanche (and future projects) moved into construction, thus reducing the need for incremental equity contributions by SunEdison while preserving a first right of call provision for its TerraForm Power

yield co A yield co or yieldco is a company that is formed to own operating assets that produce a predictable cash flow, primarily through long term contracts. Separating volatile activities (such as development, R&D, construction) from stable activities of ...

. With all requirements in place, the start of construction was announced in August 2015. Most BOS work was complete by the time that SunEdison filed for Chapter 11

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection on April 21, 2016. Nevertheless, work at Comanche and other SunEdison projects continued unabated due to the company's receipt of $300 million in bankruptcy debt financing. On May 16, 201
Novatus Energy
announced its purchase of the operating Comanche facility, although terms were not disclosed.

Electricity production

External links

VIDEO: Community Energy Solar - Comanche

VIDEO: Swinerton SOLV: Solar O&M Solution

References

{{Solar power in the United States Buildings and structures in Pueblo County, Colorado Photovoltaic power stations in Colorado Photovoltaic power stations in the United States Energy infrastructure completed in 2016

Construction details

Development and ownership history

Electricity production

See also

External links

References