A ray of sunshine came out of the Colorado Springs Utilities Board meeting this week as the panel OK’d two projects that will add 20 megawatts of solar power and credits to the area’s energy portfolio.
“It’s very exciting,” John Romero, Colorado Springs Utilities general manager of energy acquisitions, engineering and planning, said Friday. He said the added solar capacity will help keep the utility in compliance with state renewable energy standards until 2030.
The projects are expected to be completed by the end of June.
The first is a 10 megawatt solar array to be constructed on Utilities’ property near the Nixon Power Plant in south Colorado Springs. An array is a group of solar panels or cells that convert sunlight to electricity. Ten megawatts of solar translates into enough power for 3,000 homes each year.
The utility is working with El Paso County officials to expedite rezoning of the area, Romero said. Construction of the arrays will be contracted out to solar developers.
The other project is a 20-year purchase of renewable energy credits that will equal about 10 megawatts of capacity. These credit investments enable renewable solar energy projects and will help the utility meet and even exceed state regulations.
The state requires that utilities generate 10 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020. But Colorado Springs Utilities has voluntarily upped its energy plan to 20 percent.
The two projects will help the utility meet of the Colorado Renewable Energy Standard until 2030. Romero said Utilities is using an accelerated timetable to take advantage of the state’s so-called multipliers that provide three times the number of credits if put in place by the end of June, when the plan expires.
“For every renewable energy credit we purchase, it would be counted three times. It’s a state incentive to get utilities on board early,” Utilities spokeswoman Amy Trinidad said.
Romero declined to provide an estimate of the cost of the projects because the utility is in negotiations with various entities involved in the development proposals.
The solar projects will be owned and operated by third parties and located in Springs Utilities’ electric service territory.
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Let the sun shine: Colorado Springs Utilities adding solar capacity
