SunEdison: Largest U.S. Photovoltaic Power Plant Activated for Xcel Energy

January 7, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

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SunEdison announced that the 8.22-megawatt (MW) Alamosa, Colo. photovoltaic (PV) solar plant was activated ahead of its scheduled completion date.

It is the largest solar PV plant in the U.S. supporting substation loads for a major public utility, SunEdison said.

The solar plant was financed, built and will be maintained by SunEdison under a Solar Power Services Agreement (SPSA). Under the SPSA, Xcel Energy will buy renewable energy credits and the solar power generated by the Alamosa plant for 20 years.

In March 2007, Colorado signed into law legislation that requires utilities such as Xcel Energy to derive 20% of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020. The groundbreaking for the Alamosa solar power system was held in April.

According to SunEdison, the solar power plant near the substation consists of three distinct types of solar technologies:

• Single axis tracking array.
• Fixed-mount array.
• Dual axis tracking array with photovoltaic concentrator technology.

"This is a unique facility - three types of solar technologies have been deployed in parallel. Performance monitoring will allow us to study the system's performance and evaluate the relative benefits of each technology over the system's expected 20-year lifespan," said Karen Hyde, vice president of resource planning and acquisition at Xcel Energy.

The Alamosa solar plant is on roughly 80 acres of land near the substation in Alamosa and San Luis Valley in Colorado. The facility will generate approximately 17,000 MW hours annually, delivering enough clean energy to power 1,500 homes.

According to SunEdison, the Alamosa photovoltaic solar plant will generate enough clean energy to remove the carbon emissions produced by cars driving 765 million miles over 20 years.

Source: SunEdison.