10,000 solar collectors on rooftops in United Power service territory
Maybe there should be a plaque outside the home of Cory and Jaimie Wagner in Keenesburg, which is located 40 miles northeast of Denver.
The Wagners have the distinction of having the 10,000th rooftop solar system connected to United Power, the electrical cooperative serving that area.
United reports a surge of connections, 1,000 in less than eight months, and double the number connected to its system during the last three years.
Now, nearly 11% of United Power’s residential members generate power from solar systems at the homes. That’s higher than both the state and regional solar penetration averages. It’s also double the national average.
United Power now has 62 megawatts fo solar generation. It has a peak demand of 600 megawatts.
Solar is a component of a more interactive system called MyGen offered by United to customers. The online tool allows members to track production of their solar systems alongside energy use in their Power Portal account.
Since 2009, when it powered Sol Partners, Colorado’s first community solar farm, United Power has added five utility-scale solar farms and one of the state’s largest battery storage facilities. The solar farms generate a combined 50 megawatt, enough to power more than 10,000 homes.
United Power’s energy portfolio also includes a 3.2-megawatt methane-capture project at the Erie Landfill.
The cooperative continues to explore renewable and innovative energy projects with the greatest member benefits, including reliability, resiliency, and affordability.
The San Juan Generation Station of northwestern New Mexico has ceased to huff and pave, and soon items of value will be extracted from the plant. Photo/Allen Best
As San Juan coal plant tumbles, New Mexico solar plants arise
Wrecking balls beginning this spring will lay down the San Juan Generation Station near Farmington, in northwestern New Mexico’s San Juan County, just as solar panels arise.
“The metamorphosis from 19th century to 21st century technology is breathtaking to behold,” writes Mark Pearson in the Cortez (Colo.) Journal.
Pearson, director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance, reports that the “innards” of the plant are already on the auction block, and buildings and smokestacks could be demolished as soon as April. Reclamation will take two more years. The plant had a 924-megawatt capacity.
Construction is scheduled to begin on a 200-megawatt solar and a 100-megawatt battery storage project called San Juan Solar Phase 1 on land adjacent to the old coal plant. Two other solar projects intended to replace electricity from the San Juan Generating Station are planned for northwestern New Mexico, near Cuba. The two, with 350 megawatts of combined capacity and 20 megawatts of battery storage, should be operating in May.
Interstate 70 lies at the foot of the Book Cliffs and Mount Garfield along the edge of the Grand Valley, where Grand Junction is located. Photo/Allen Best
Pivot Energy puts solar plans near Grand Junction on hold
Pivot Energy has put its plans for a 2.5-megawatt solar project along Interstate 70 near Grand Junction on hold while it tries to figure out how to allay local concerns.
Neighbors complained that the project north of Clifton, a suburb of Grand Junction, would intrude on their views of Mount Garfield, reports the Grand Junction Sentinel. “There is no other project like this in Mesa County, and given Xcel’s rules, we cannot pick a new location,” the company’s letter said. “Trust us. If we could, we would.”
The company hopes to return with something that works a little better, the Sentinel reports. Pivot Energy already has two solar gardens in the area along with five in adjacent Garfield County.
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On March 16 2023 NPR reported under the headline “Activists spread misleading information to fight solar”. Apparently there’s a well funded systematic effort under way to torpedo renewable energy developments in rural America. While https://www.npr.org/2023/03/16/1164050912/activists-spread-misleading-information-to-fight-solar