An alternative for Delta-Montrose

Electrical cooperative and Guzman Energy say they won’t pursue rejected proposal in Delta County

Guzman Energy and Delta-Montrose Electric Association have announced they plan to submit an altered plan to Delta County.

“We are confident that by working together with Delta County residents, we can address the concerns raised at the last permitting review, including agricultural and irrigation questions,” said the two organizations in a joint statement. “We look forward to building a project that bridges Delta County’s agricultural heritage with a new energy future.”

See Big Pivots March 6: Delta County’s strange case of no.”

“Guzman’s agreement to provide power to DMEA is unaffected by this change to local generation plans,” said Robin Lunt, the chief strategy officer for Guzman, and Alyssa Clemsen Roberts, the chief executive of Delta-Montrose, in their joint statement.

Guzman and Delta-Montrose had chosen the three parcels located 2.5 miles east of downtown Delta partly because of their proximity to an electrical substation but also because the land is not prime agricultural land, although there are both irrigation and agriculture on the parcels. One of those parcels can be seen in the above photo.

To allay local concerns, Guzman and Delta-Montrose promised to continue agricultural production by integrating sheep-grazing among the panels. That wasn’t enough for two of the three county commissioners who cited erosion of land in agricultural production.

The property tax revenues from the solar project would have been a substantial boon to Delta County compared to the property tax revenues expected for agriculture-only uses.

In an op/ed published in the North Fork Merchant Herald, Natasha Leger, director of Citizens for a Healthy Community, charged “energy discrimination.” The proposal accorded with the county’s land-use code that had been developed at considerable cost and effort from 2016 to 2020, she wrote, and contrasts starkly with Delta County’s position on oil-and-gas development. She said Delta County repealed its regulations governing oil-and-gas development in 2019.

In their statement, Guzman and Delta-Montrose gave no indication of what alternatives they might pursue.

This story was altered to reflect the April 14 announcement by Guzman Energy and Delta-Montrose Electric Association that they plan to submit new plans to Delta County but at the same site. A previous iteration of this story suggested Guzman and Delta-Montrose planned alternatives at other locations.