The Greater Sandhill Solar Plant is a 19
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
(
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 ...
in the
San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, making it the largest alpine valley in the world. It extends from the Continental Divide on ...
, located near the town of
Mosca, Colorado
Mosca (Spanish for fly) is an unincorporated community and a U.S. Post Office in Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. Mosca's population is 1,072 as of the 2020 census. It was named for the nearby Mosca Pass, which was named for the Spani ...
. It was the largest solar facility in the state when it came online at the end of 2010.
The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of
Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy Inc. is a U.S. regulated electric utility and natural gas delivery company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers across parts of eight states (Color ...
, under a long-term
power purchase agreement.
Facility details
The facility occupies about 200 acres of a 320 acre plot of water-constrained former agricultural land, and is sited adjacent to the
Alamosa photovoltaic power plant which was completed two years earlier.
It was developed and built by
SunPower
SunPower Corporation is an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, was founded in 1985 b ...
using the company's most-advanced high-efficiency technology. It contains about 50,000 modules which are mounted onto T-20
trackers.
This tracker design was newly released in 2010, and was marketed as enabling the highest production.
The plant is owned by
Metlife
MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produ ...
and
John Hancock Financial Services, which also partnered to finance the construction.
Buesing Corp of Phoenix AZ was contracted to set the 16,800 helical screw pile foundations.
The facility was completed in nine months, and was at full production by the end of December 2010.
The start of commercial operations was announced in March 2011.
Electricity production
See also
*
Alamosa Photovoltaic Power Plant
*
San Luis Valley Solar Ranch
*
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 i ...
*
Solar power in the United States
Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2024, utility-scale solar power generated 218.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) in the United States. Total ...
*
Renewable energy in the United States
A renewable resource (also known as a flow resource) is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of t ...
*
Renewable portfolio standard
A renewable portfolio standard (RPS) is a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal. Other common names for the same concept include Renewable Electric ...
External links
VIDEO: Sunpower T20 Tracker Installation
References
{{Solar power in the United States
Buildings and structures in Alamosa County, Colorado
Photovoltaic power stations in Colorado
Photovoltaic power stations in the United States
Energy infrastructure completed in 2010