Energy, Utilities & Water  May 17, 2013

Greeley-Weld airport eyes solar garden

GREELEY – A large solar array could be in the future of the Greeley-Weld County Airport if Xcel Energy Inc. agrees to the airport’s bid.

Officials have not ironed out details on the project, such as where on the 1,200-acre airport property it might go and who may finance it, airport manager Gary Cyr said. The 2-megawatt solar farm could produce from 3.1 million to 3.6 million kilowatt hours annually.

By contrast, Denver International Airport’s three solar arrays are capable of generating as many as 13 million kilowatt hours of power annually.

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“It’s a fairly good-size solar garden,” Cyr said. “At this point, it’s still in discussion phases.”

The airport plans to submit a bid for the project once Xcel (NYSE: XEL) issues its 2013 Solar Rewards program request for proposals in September. Xcel last year accepted 2.6 megawatts of projects that it deemed “competitively priced,” spokesman Mark Stutz said. It had capacity for 4 megawatts.

Only a half megawatt has been installed. Solar arrays must be completed by Nov. 30.

Like last year, the company has capacity for 4 megawatts of large solar projects this year, Stutz said. One megawatt of renewable energy can serve the power needs of 250 homes.

Xcel’s Solar Rewards program helps the utility meet a state mandate to generate 30 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. Xcel Energy customers fund the program through a 2 percent rider on their monthly bills.

The airport’s solar project would mark the latest effort to install a large solar array in Northern Colorado. The Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association recently said it would install a second solar array. It unveiled its first one in August.

The city of Greeley announced last year a 500-kilowatt solar farm that will generate 15 percent of its wastewater treatment facility’s electricity. The city of Fort Collins said it wants to build one or more solar gardens from which residents could buy solar-generated electricity.

The Greeley airport wants to build the solar garden to offset its electricity use as well as to earn revenue from leasing the land for the array, Cyr said.

“It would be a good fit for non-aviation revenue for the airport,” he said.

Xcel will issue its request for proposals for solar projects larger than 500 kilowatts, or .5 megawatts, by Sept. 2.

Groups must submit bids by Oct. 1 to Xcel, which will select projects by Nov. 1. Solar arrays must be completed by May 31, 2015.

“If they have all the steps completed and have a competitive bid in the process, they… have just as good a chance as anyone else that may get into that program,” Stutz said about the Greeley airport.

All three of Denver International Airport’s solar arrays participate in Xcel’s Solar Rewards Program, said Woods Allee, the airport’s director of project controls and energy management.

The solar arrays also generate electricity for the airport. Annual output from one 9,200-panel array, for example, amounts to around half of the electricity that powers the train systems between the airport’s terminal and gate areas.

SunEdison, MP2 Capital and Constellation Energy Resources LLC funded the arrays. The airport leased the land to those companies and buys the power from the arrays based on 20-year agreements.

The airport sells Xcel excess electricity for 1.7 cents per kilowatt hour while the companies that own the arrays sell Xcel renewable-energy credits. Xcel uses those credits to meet the state’s renewable-energy standard.

GREELEY – A large solar array could be in the future of the Greeley-Weld County Airport if Xcel Energy Inc. agrees to the airport’s bid.

Officials have not ironed out details on the project, such as where on the 1,200-acre airport property it might go and who may finance it, airport manager Gary Cyr said. The 2-megawatt solar farm could produce from 3.1 million to 3.6 million kilowatt hours annually.

By contrast, Denver International Airport’s three solar arrays are capable of generating as many as 13 million kilowatt hours of power annually.

“It’s a fairly good-size solar garden,” Cyr said. “At this point,…

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