Alamosa Photovoltaic Power Plant Explained

Alamosa PV Power Plant
Coordinates:37.6903°N -105.8778°W
Country:United States
Location:San Luis Valley, Mosca, Colorado
Status:O
Construction Began:April 2007
Commissioned:December 2007
Owner:TerraForm Power
Operator:TerraForm Power
Solar Type:PV
Ps Site Area:82acres
Ps Electrical Capacity:8.2 MWp, 7.7 MWAC
Ps Electrical Cap Fac:25.7% (average 2008-2014)
Ps Annual Generation:17.4 GW·h, 210 MW·h/acre

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 announced on December 17, 2007. It was the second largest plant after the U.S. Air Force's Nellis Solar Power Plant which was inaugurated the same day. The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, under a 20-year power purchase agreement.[1] [2] [3]

Facility details

The plant occupies 82 acres of a 160 acre parcel of land adjacent to Highway 17 and existing transmission infrastructure near the community of Mosca. It was originally constructed as three units to evaluate and demonstrate three types of photovoltaic (PV) technology at utility-scale, including: 1) fixed-tilt, seasonally-adjustable, flat-panel PV; 2) single-axis-tracking, flat-panel PV; and 3) dual-axis-tracking, concentrator photovoltaics (CPV). The first two units account for about 6.8 MW of the plant capacity and use 2,224 and 24,384 Suntech polycrystalline silicon panels, respectively. The third unit accounts for the remaining ~1.2 MW and consists of 72 SOLON Mover[4] tracker systems with concentrating solar panels.[5] [6] [7]

The plant was developed, financed, constructed, owned, and operated by SunEdison. Construction began in April 2007, and the facility was generating full power by the end of the year.[8] [9] It continued as the most productive public-utility-connected PV power plant until the end of 2008, when the El Dorado Solar Power Plant in Nevada came online.[10] It provided enough power to supply 1400 homes that year.[11] In January 2015, the plant was purchased by TerraForm Power, which was created as a yield co by SunEdison prior to its bankruptcy filing the following year.[12]

The plant received some criticism upon startup, saying that the amount of land used is large in comparison to the amount of power generated.[13]

Electricity production

Generation (MW·h) of Alamosa PV Plant [14]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
20072,2082,208
2008348 735 1712 2106 2135 2625 1932 1815 1774 1285 664 40017,531
2009410 636 1717 1983 2266 1683 1958 2268 1885 1279 883 48617,455
2010233 484 1108 1421 1946 2299 1771 2221 2073 1382 1585 108517,608
2011913 1136 1430 1842 2027 2173 1688 1910 1451 1433 966 82817,797
2012353 426 581 928 1859 2007 1951 1992 2092 2117 1740 152617,573
2013998 1141 1415 1373 1693 1727 1650 1644 1520 1578 1083 108416,907
20141082 1224 1532 1428 1590 1780 1491 1816 1439 1362 1110 74716,601
Average Annual Production (years 2008-2014) --->17,353
Generation (MW·h) of Alamosa PV Plant post transfer[15]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2015127 181 256 252 234 270 217 251 233 186 185 2452,638
201696 139 170 169 200 210 219 175 379 367 270 2422,636
20171401 2182 3054 3371 3974 4306 3735 3126 2618 3101 1978 203134,876
2018827 972 1257 1524 1756 1887 1645 1642 1578 1177 970 70215,939
2019807 850 1267 1491 1588 1786 1690 1721 1420 1396 868 63315,517
Average Annual Production (years 2018-2019) --->15,728

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: SunEdison Activates Largest Photovoltaic Power Plant for Xcel Energy . arizonaenergy.org . December 17, 2007 . February 20, 2019.
  2. Web site: SunEdison Activates 8.22MW Solar Plant in Alamosa Colo. . thefreelibrary.com . December 18, 2007 . February 20, 2019.
  3. Web site: SunEdison Solar Plant Activates Early . summitdaily.com . December 17, 2007 . February 20, 2019.
  4. Web site: Dual-axis tracking: SOLON Mover . solon.com . February 20, 2019.
  5. Web site: SunE Alamosa Solar PV 8.22MW . IJ Global Project Finance and Infrastructure Journal . August 28, 2012 . February 20, 2019.
  6. Web site: Xcel Energy Choose SunEdison for 8MW Solar PV Plant . renewableenergyworld.com . September 27, 2006 . February 20, 2019.
  7. Web site: Solar's Great Leap Forward . technologyreview.com . June 22, 2010 . February 20, 2019.
  8. Web site: Ground Broken on SunEdison's 8.22MW PV Solar Plant in Colorado . renewableenergyworld.com . April 24, 2007 . February 20, 2019.
  9. Web site: SunEdison Breaks Ground for Alamosa Solar Plant . solarindustrymag.com . April 24, 2007 . February 20, 2019.
  10. Web site: Most Efficient Solar PV Plant of 2008 Won't Hold Title for Long . cleantechnica.com . January 29, 2009 . February 20, 2019.
  11. News: Alamosa solar plant's success helps prove resource's viability on large scale . . 24 December 2008 . 13 January 2009 . Steve . Raabe . https://web.archive.org/web/20090129193440/http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11299138 . 29 January 2009 . live . dmy-all .
  12. Web site: SunEdison files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . Bomey . Nathan . April 21, 2016 . USA TODAY . February 3, 2019.
  13. Web site: Vail Daily's view: Smaller is better with solar energy . Vail Daily . 3 January 2009 . 13 January 2009 .
  14. Web site: Alamosa PV Plant, Monthly . Electricity Data Browser . . November 2, 2019.
  15. Web site: TerraForm Power Acquires 26 Megawatts of Distributed Generation Solar Power Plants from SunEdison for $47 Million . terraformpower.com . January 7, 2015 . February 19, 2019.

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