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 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]

Alamosa PV Power Plant
The plant in 2020
CountryUnited States
LocationSan Luis Valley, Mosca, Colorado
Coordinates37°41′25″N 105°52′40″W
StatusOperational
Construction beganApril 2007
Commission dateDecember 2007
Owner(s)TerraForm Power
Operator(s)TerraForm Power
Solar farm
TypeFlat-panel PV
Site area82 acres (33 ha)
Power generation
Nameplate capacity8.2 MWp, 7.7 MWAC
Capacity factor25.7% (average 2008-2014)
Annual net output17.4 GW·h, 210 MW·h/acre
A map of solar farms in the San Luis valley

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).[1] 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.[1][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,[12] which was created as a yield co by SunEdison prior to its bankruptcy filing the following year.[13]

The plant received some criticism upon startup, saying that the amount of land used is large in comparison to the amount of power generated.[14]

Electricity production
Generation (MW·h) of Alamosa PV Plant [15]
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
2007 2,208 2,208
2008 34873517122106213526251932181517741285664400 17,531
2009 41063617171983226616831958226818851279883486 17,455
2010 2334841108142119462299177122212073138215851085 17,608
2011 913113614301842202721731688191014511433966828 17,797
2012 35342658192818592007195119922092211717401526 17,573
2013 99811411415137316931727165016441520157810831084 16,907
2014 10821224153214281590178014911816143913621110747 16,601
Average Annual Production (years 2008-2014) --->17,353
Generation (MW·h) of Alamosa PV Plant [15] post transfer[12]
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
2015 127181256252234270217251233186185245 2,638
2016 96139170169200210219175379367270242 2,636
2017 140121823054337139744306373531262618310119782031 34,876
2018 82797212571524175618871645164215781177970702 15,939
2019 80785012671491158817861690172114201396868633 15,517
Average Annual Production (years 2018-2019) --->15,728

See also

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