Greater Sandhill Solar Plant

The Greater Sandhill Solar Plant is a 19 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station in the San Luis Valley, located near the town of Mosca, Colorado. It was the largest solar facility in the state when it came online at the end of 2010.[1] The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, under a long-term power purchase agreement.[2]

Greater Sandhill Solar Plant
The station viewed from Lane 8 North, showing the movable panels
CountryUnited States
LocationSan Luis Valley, Mosca, Colorado
Coordinates37°41′08″N 105°53′27″W
StatusOperational
Construction beganMarch 2010
Commission dateMarch 2011
Owner(s)Metlife and John Hancock Financial Services
Operator(s)SunPower
Solar farm
TypeFlat-panel PV
Site area200 acres (81 ha)
Power generation
Nameplate capacity19 MWAC
Capacity factor28.5% (average 2011-2019)
Annual net output47.4 GW·h, 237 MW·h/acre
A map of solar farms in the San Luis valley

Facility details

The facility occupies about 200 acres of a 320 acre plot of water-constrained former agricultural land, and is sited adjacent to the Alamosa photovoltaic power plant which was completed two years earlier.[2][3] It was developed and built by SunPower using the company's most-advanced high-efficiency technology. It contains about 50,000 modules which are mounted onto T-20 trackers.[2] This tracker design was newly released in 2010, and was marketed as enabling the highest production.[4][5]

The plant is owned by Metlife and John Hancock Financial Services, which also partnered to finance the construction.[6] Buesing Corp of Phoenix AZ was contracted to set the 16,800 helical screw pile foundations.[7] The facility was completed in nine months, and was at full production by the end of December 2010.[8] The start of commercial operations was announced in March 2011.[1][6]

Electricity production
Generation (MW·h) of Greater Sandhill [8]
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
2010 2,7631,8412,1131,445 8,162
2011 2,5083,1193,9275,0565,5655,9664,6355,2443,9833,9332,6522,274 48,862
2012 9871,1911,6252,5955,1965,6125,4565,5695,8505,9184,8644,266 49,131
2013 2,8163,2183,9903,8744,7754,8724,6534,6374,2894,4503,0563,058 47,689
2014 3,0243,4204,2813,9904,4414,9734,1655,0724,0193,8043,1022,087 46,378
2015 2,1963,1324,4314,3654,0444,6783,7624,3494,0413,2123,2014,242 45,653
2016 1,7172,4943,0573,0353,5863,7723,9373,1326,8106,5784,8464,340 47,303
2017 1,8962,9544,1334,5635,3795,8295,0564,2313,5444,1972,6772,749 47,210
2018 2,4612,8943,7424,5355,2275,6174,8964,8884,6983,5032,8882,091 47,439
2019 2,4362,5673,8234,5014,7925,3905,1025,1944,2874,2142,6191,909 46,834
Average Annual Production (years 2011-2019) --->47,389

See also

References
  1. "Largest PV Solar Power Plant Operating in Colorado". agwired.com. March 17, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  2. "Solar Technology Helps Xcel Energy Meet Colorado's Renewable Energy Standard". Sunpower. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  3. "Going Solar Is Harder Than It Looks, a Valley Finds". New York Times. June 3, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  4. "SunPower Announces the Most Powerful Solar Tracker for Power Plant Applications". Sunpower. October 27, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  5. "SunPower Launches new T20 Tracker". solarindustrymag.com. October 27, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  6. "Xcel Energy, SunPower commission 19-MW solar power plant in Colorado". renewablesnow.com. March 17, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  7. "Xcel Greater Sandhill 20MW Solar Plant". Buesing Corp. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  8. "Greater Sandhill, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
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