Greater Sandhill Solar Plant
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The Greater Sandhill Solar Plant is a 19 
megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...
( MWAC)
photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...
in the
San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It co ...
, located near the town of
Mosca, Colorado Mosca is an unincorporated community and a U.S. Post Office in Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. It was named for the nearby Mosca Pass, which was named for the Spanish explorer, Luis de Moscoso Alvarado. The Mosca Post Office has the Z ...
. It was the largest solar facility in the state when it came online at the end of 2010. The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four oper ...
, under a long-term
power purchase agreement A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...
.


Facility details

The facility occupies about 200 acres of a 320 acre plot of water-constrained former agricultural land, and is sited adjacent to the
Alamosa photovoltaic power plant Alamosa Photovoltaic Power Plant, is a 7.7  MWAC (8.2  MWp) photovoltaic power station located in San Luis Valley, Colorado. The facility was the largest in the United States to service a major public utility when its activation was a ...
which was completed two years earlier. It was developed and built by
SunPower SunPower is an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, was founded in 1985 by Richard Sw ...
using the company's most-advanced high-efficiency technology. It contains about 50,000 modules which are mounted onto T-20 trackers. This tracker design was newly released in 2010, and was marketed as enabling the highest production. The plant is owned by
Metlife MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...
and
John Hancock Financial Services John Hancock Life Insurance Company, U.S.A. is a Boston-based insurance company. Established April 21, 1862, it was named in honor of John Hancock, a prominent American Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot. In 2004, John Hancock was acquired b ...
, which also partnered to finance the construction. Buesing Corp of Phoenix AZ was contracted to set the 16,800 helical screw pile foundations. The facility was completed in nine months, and was at full production by the end of December 2010. The start of commercial operations was announced in March 2011.


Electricity production


See also

*
Alamosa Photovoltaic Power Plant Alamosa Photovoltaic Power Plant, is a 7.7  MWAC (8.2  MWp) photovoltaic power station located in San Luis Valley, Colorado. The facility was the largest in the United States to service a major public utility when its activation was a ...
*
San Luis Valley Solar Ranch The San Luis Valley Solar Ranch is a 30 megawatt ( MWAC) photovoltaic power station in the San Luis Valley, located near the town of Mosca, Colorado. It was the largest solar facility in the state when it came online at the end of 2011. ...
*
Solar power in Colorado Solar power in Colorado has grown rapidly, partly because of one of the most favorable net metering laws in the country, with no limit on the number of users. The state was the first in the nation to establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard for it ...
*
Solar power in the United States Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2021, utility-scale solar power generated 115 terawatt-hours (TWh), or 2.8% of electricity in t ...
*
Renewable energy in the United States According to preliminary data from the US Energy Information Administration, renewable energy accounted for about 12.6% of total primary energy consumption and about 19.8% of the domestically produced electricity in the United States in 202 ...
* Renewable portfolio standard


External links


VIDEO: Sunpower T20 Tracker Installation


References

{{Solar power in the United States Buildings and structures in Alamosa County, Colorado Photovoltaic power stations in Colorado Photovoltaic power stations in the United States Energy infrastructure completed in 2010