The
Crestone Eagle, May 2007:
North America’s largest solar plant
breaks ground in the SLV
by Nicholas Chambers
 A
day after Earth Day on April 23, the San Luis Valley made
its mark on the map of the New Energy Economy with the ground
breaking of an 8.22 megawatt solar plant, attended by Colorado
Governor Bill Ritter and United States Senator Ken Salazar.
The 82 acres just north of Mosca on Highway 17 will be home
to approximately 27,000 solar panels, both flat plate and
concentrator types. The plant will be able to produce enough
clean electricity to power about 1,500 homes, while displacing
the equivalent in carbon dioxide emissions from 2,840 cars
driving 12,500 miles annually.
Sun Edison is the financing and construction company in charge
of the project, operating with a Power Purchase Agreement
from Xcel Energy. Sun Edison is the largest solar energy provider
in North America. It has put arrays on top of the office supply
superstore Staples, Inc., as well as on the roof-tops of many
other commercial and government buildings. The agreement to
purchase power by Xcel energy will help them reach Amendment
37’s mandate of 10% of a large utility’s power
from renewable resources by 2015. Xcel will actually be eight
years ahead of schedule in meeting this requirement.
“We are making history today,” said Govenor Bill
Ritter. “Colorado is becoming the renewable energy capitol
of the nation, which advances it to a New Energy Economy.”
Ritter will be helping break ground on a new wind farm in
Logan County next week and has made the “greening of
the state” an executive order. Under this order, state
use of petroleum will be cut by 25% as will water consumption
be cut by 10%. His administration is also creating a Clean
Energy Fund where they hope to “incentivize” ideas
out of academia and into the private sector. House Bill 1281
also pushed Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard to
20 percent by 2020 and was signed into law by Ritter this
last March. “These are exciting times in Colorado,”
he proclaimed.
“The fact that Ritter is in the San Luis Valley is
a significant sign,” said Senator Ken Salazar. “This
solar farm is a signature effort of the 21st century. It will
not be forgotten and alternative fuels are not going away.”
As a Valley native, Salazar was proud to say that the San
Luis Valley will be leading the way of renewable energy with
its resources of sun, wind, and other biofuels. He pressed
the importance of the Clean Energy Future of America with
three main points. First, renewable energy is important for
matters of energy security, so that our economy is not reliant
on fuels lying under unstable regimes in the Middle East.
Secondly, we can not afford to usher in global warming any
faster, and third, renewable energy brings about healthy and
stable economics.
Other dignitaries from the Valley and key players in the
solar plant’s manifestation also spoke at the ground
breaking, including Alamosa County Commissioner Darius Allen.
While he was instrumental on a local level in making it all
happen, he offered this bit of a motto: “If you continue
to think the way you’ve always thought, you are going
to get what you’ve always got!”
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