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Alamosa Photovoltaic Power Plant

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Coordinates: 37°41′25″N 105°52′40″W / 37.69028°N 105.87778°W / 37.69028; -105.87778
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Alamosa PV Power Plant
The plant in 2020
Map
CountryUnited States
LocationSan Luis Valley, Mosca, Colorado
Coordinates37°41′25″N 105°52′40″W / 37.69028°N 105.87778°W / 37.69028; -105.87778
StatusOperational
Construction beganApril 2007
Commission dateDecember 2007
OwnerTerraForm Power
OperatorTerraForm 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
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A map of solar farms in the San Luis valley

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

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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

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Generation (MW·h) of Alamosa PV Plant [15]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2007 2,208 2,208
2008 348 735 1712 2106 2135 2625 1932 1815 1774 1285 664 400 17,531
2009 410 636 1717 1983 2266 1683 1958 2268 1885 1279 883 486 17,455
2010 233 484 1108 1421 1946 2299 1771 2221 2073 1382 1585 1085 17,608
2011 913 1136 1430 1842 2027 2173 1688 1910 1451 1433 966 828 17,797
2012 353 426 581 928 1859 2007 1951 1992 2092 2117 1740 1526 17,573
2013 998 1141 1415 1373 1693 1727 1650 1644 1520 1578 1083 1084 16,907
2014 1082 1224 1532 1428 1590 1780 1491 1816 1439 1362 1110 747 16,601
Average Annual Production (years 2008-2014) ---> 17,353
Generation (MW·h) of Alamosa PV Plant [15] post transfer[12]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2015 127 181 256 252 234 270 217 251 233 186 185 245 2,638
2016 96 139 170 169 200 210 219 175 379 367 270 242 2,636
2017 1401 2182 3054 3371 3974 4306 3735 3126 2618 3101 1978 2031 34,876
2018 827 972 1257 1524 1756 1887 1645 1642 1578 1177 970 702 15,939
2019 807 850 1267 1491 1588 1786 1690 1721 1420 1396 868 633 15,517
Average Annual Production (years 2018-2019) ---> 15,728

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "Alamosa PV Plant, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
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