Option Lease Signed, Site Being Tested

RIDGWAY – A two-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant that would produce approximately two percent of the San Miguel Power Association’s annual load has found a home in Ouray County. The project by SunEdison is being touted as the second-largest solar project in Colorado and the largest solar project built for power distribution to a rural electric cooperative.

Prior to the indication that the plant will be located in Ouray County, it had been slated for a site near Norwood. But a regional search for suitable sites has now identified the Ouray County site as preferable.

Officials from the Denver-office of SunEdison have been searching in Ouray and San Miguel counties and the portion of Montrose County that SMPA serves. While he couldn’t give an exact location because of pending transactions, Bryan Hammond, the project manager for SunEdison, told members of the Ridgway Town Council on July 14 that the solar company has found a site within the county that it likes and has entered into an option lease with the land owner so it can conduct surveys and soil tests to see if the site meets the project’s specifications.

SMPA’s Board of Directors approved a power-purchase agreement with SunEdison in April, to purchase the electricity output from a solar facility for a 25-year period.

“Right now, the designers have to put the site together to see if it makes sense there,” Hammond said. “We are not stating where it is yet because it could still fall through, for whatever reason, and we are still looking for a site in all three counties.”

Hammond said possible sites in Ouray County have ranked well in the region because some available sites are within close proximity to SMPA’s substation. A project of this size, he said, would have to tie into a substation and needs approximately 20 acres of land for the photovoltaic panels.

SunEdison will finance, design and own the power plant and sell the power it produces to SMPA at a fixed price over a span of 25 years. As planned, solar voltaic panels will be installed on a long rotating pipe that will turn every 15 minutes, following the sun across the sky throughout the day. At night and during periods of high winds, the panels will stow parallel to the ground. Because SunEdison “understands how important visibility is” in Ouray County, Hammond said he was confident “excellent-looking” fencing could be installed to shield the project from viewpoints.

Hammond also credited SMPA’s Board of Directors for finding a way to purchase the power from SunEdison without having to raise its rates to power-purchasing members.

“SMPA has announced publicly that there is a way to install this without raising rates," he said. “This is groundbreaking for cooperative utilities."

Besides diversifying SMPA’s power generating portfolio, Hammond said the solar project would also be an example to other cooperatives across the country of what can be done both technologically and financially in renewable energy projects.

“I have seen different types of branding with renewable energy and Ouray County has what I consider three different sources with its geothermal, hydroelectric and now, solar,” he said. “If we can bring it here, people will come to look at it on a tour basis and co-ops will be coming to look at is as well.”

Hammond added that he would like to set up a kiosk at the site for educational purposes as well as launch a website that would show the carbon savings the project produces.

“I am ecstatic,” Ridgway Mayor Pat Willits said. "I know the devil is in the details but I think the world has to move in this direction. I think it is awesome.”

Hammond hopes to put out a Request for Proposals to contractors in the next few weeks and said it is important for SunEdison to employ as many local contractors as possible.

“Hopefully we will be permitting in a matter of weeks,” he said, “and hopefully start construction in the fall.”