Giant solar farm for the Pueblo steel mill (almost) completed

That huge solar farm south of Pueblo that is to power the Evraz steel mill? It’s almost a wrap. The full completion is expected Nov. 6.

The project, called Bighorn Solar, was announced in September 2019 but the agreements between Xcel Energy, Evraz, and others took about a year to get nailed down. Construction has taken about a year.

The solar farm has 300 megawatts of generating capacity (when the sun is shining, of course). Kevin Smith, the North American chief executive of Lightsource, said the solar resource at Pueblo ranks 7 or 8 on a 10-point scale.

The solar generation will allow Evraz to generate nearly 100% of its own power needed for steel production.

A story I wrote in August 2020, “Making steel with solar energy,” had this to say:

“It will be the largest on-site solar facility in the United States dedicated to a single customer. Another way of saying it is that it will be the largest behind-the-meter solar project in the nation.