HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Comanche Solar Project
OR:
Comanche Solar Project on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The Comanche Solar Project is a 120 
megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...
( MWAC)
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 home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 111,876 at the 2020 United States Census, making Pueblo the ninth most popu ...
. 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 ope ...
, 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 oppo ...
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 p ...
awarded an
EPC EPC may refer to: Government and politics * Eastern Provincial Council, in Sri Lanka * European Policy Centre, a Belgian think tank * European Political Community (1952), a former political organization proposed in 1952 * European Political Co ...
contract for the project to Renewable Energy Systems (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 opti ...
(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. 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 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


See also

*
Solar power in Colorado Solar power in Colorado has grown rapidly, partly because of one of the most favorable net metering laws in the country, with no limit on the number of users. The state was the first in the nation to establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard for it ...
*
List of power stations in Colorado This is a list of electric power generation stations in the U.S. State of Colorado, sorted by type and name. As of December 2022, Colorado has a total summer capacity of 18,084 MW through all of its power plants, and a year long net generat ...
* San Isabel Solar Energy Center * Renewable portfolio standard


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