Colorado’s largest photo voltaic array and battery storage facility of its variety was the concentrate on Wednesday of a public ribbon-cutting celebration at Colorado Mountain Faculty (CMC) Spring Valley at Glenwood Springs. The undertaking is 95% full and is scheduled to succeed in business operation this fall.
The Photo voltaic Array and Battery Storage Complicated at Colorado Mountain Faculty Spring Valley is the results of a partnership between Mass.-based Ameresco, native electrical cooperative Holy Cross Power, contractor Sunsense Solar and Colorado Mountain Faculty, which is leasing college-owned land simply south of the Spring Valley campus to Ameresco to function the undertaking.
“Right here within the rural West, we’ve lengthy understood we’re stronger once we work collectively,” stated CMC President and CEO Carrie Besnette Hauser. “This collaboration between CMC, Holy Cross and Ameresco is a shining instance of that ethos as we work collectively to cut back our carbon emissions and shield these wonderful mountain landscapes that all of us love from the very actual risk of local weather change. We should all do our half.”
The photo voltaic array is a 4.5 MWac grid-tied undertaking (13,500 photo voltaic modules, lots of that are on trackers) that sends electrical energy on to HCE’s distribution system. The array can provide renewable photo voltaic power to roughly 1,000 properties. The advanced additionally contains 5 MW of battery storage, which will be discharged throughout instances of peak-demand for HCE.
The renewable power efficiencies of this undertaking will enable HCE and Colorado Mountain Faculty to each obtain objectives they’ve set. It can additional HCE’s objective of accelerating the renewable power it offers to its members to 100% clear power sources by 2030. And it’ll transfer CMC in direction of its 2050 carbon neutrality objective, since HCE will retire renewable power credit on the school’s behalf, in a amount ample to offset 100% of the electrical energy use of three CMC campuses at Aspen, Spring Valley and Vail Valley.
“The Holy Cross Power/Colorado Mountain Faculty solar-plus-storage undertaking is a good instance of a win-win renewable undertaking,” stated Sam Whelan, HCE’s vice chairman of energy provide. “Not solely does the undertaking help each HCE and CMC towards their renewable and carbon objectives, however it additionally offers us with the flexibleness to function an more and more renewable portfolio. To high all of it off, we’re ready to do that in a financially accountable method that saves cash for all our members.”
“Our partnership with Colorado Mountain Faculty and Holy Cross Power on this spectacular photo voltaic and battery power storage undertaking that makes use of a novel mannequin of collaboration permits all sides to concurrently finance the feat and obtain particular person sustainability targets,” stated Ameresco EVP Louis Maltezos. “This forward-thinking mannequin not solely advances Colorado’s renewable power objectives however ushers in a brand new period of sustainable collaboration for the state.”
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