Staff Report
ALAMOSA— A new project is set to break ground this August in the San Luis Valley that is expected to provide power to 194 homes.
There will be a new solar energy source that will be constructed. The venture is a collaboration between Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC., Oakleaf Solar, and McCarthy Building Companies. The project will take place across Colorado, and one of the sites will be near Alamosa.
This project is anticipated to provide a new option for renewable energy to 12 Colorado areas, some of which are Denver, Watkins, Greeley, Platteville, Alamosa, Rifle and De Beque. Once completed, this project will become part of Xcel Energy’s Colorado Community Solar Gardens Project.
McCarthy Building Companies was selected by Greenbacker Renewable Energy to serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for the project and will oversee the entire design and construction process.
There will be approximately 60,000 solar modules assembled and installed across Colorado. The total number of homes that power is expected to be available for through these new solar-based power systems is 4,133.
The same opportunities for a new energy source that are being afforded to other areas around the state will soon also be available in the San Luis Valley. Once the site is operational, the Alamosa location is expected to generate 1.5 megawatts ac. of completely clean and renewable energy to the Xcel grid. The sites are designed to be adjacent to where the energy demand is anticipated to be.
The project is also expected to provide jobs for the local communities in each location as well as an opportunity for clean, renewable energy for area residents. It is anticipated that there will be around 600 workers that will be employed statewide during the course of the entire process, thus creating an economic impact for each area.
Justin Peterson, vice president of operations for McCarthy’s Denver office, observed that this project is an opportunity to work with smaller rural communities and bring in new employees with more diverse backgrounds and skills.
The Colorado solar project is set to be completed by the end of 2018.