Solar project planned in 2018
PrintSOLAR FARM PROJECT ON TRACK FOR NEW YEAR
> As 2018 begins, Sangre de Cristo Electric Association is moving forward with The Colorado Department of Corrections and the Town of Buena Vista to bring a 2 megawatt solar farm near Buena Vista online at the end of the year.
Impact study now complete
SDCEA contracted with an engineering firm in the Fall of 2017 to perform a system impact study to evaluate possible negative effects that power generation from a proposed 2 megawatt solar farm could have on SDCEA’s distribution system.
Based on the firm’s findings, no major obstacles to bringing the farm online were found. SDCEA will now move on to the next stage of the project, which is determining a developer for the solar farm.
Developer Selection and Project Contract
Request for Information (RFI) responses from a number of firms were received by developer/operators of utility-scale solar projects by SDCEA’s November 2017 deadline.
From that response, a shortlist of developers was selected and encouraged to submit proposals for consideration for the project. Several proposals were received in December. Those proposals are currently under review.
SDCEA will ultimately seek to contract through a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a solar developer/operator to build and operate the solar farm.
The SDCEA Board of Directors will make a final developer/operator selection and finalize a contract with that firm in the first quarter of 2018.
