By CEN Staff

A generating station in the San Luis Valley powered by the sun is closing the year as the nation’s most productive utility-scale solar electricity plant.

The 82-acre SunEdison station north of Alamosa generated enough power this year to serve 1,652 homes, making it the largest plant of its kind in the nation. That, in itself, should be convincing proof that solar power can be a viable part of the U.S. generation mix, according to experts, despite its higher costs and intermittent output compared with coal and natural-gas fired generators.

Xcel Energy is using the plant’s power to help it meet the renewable-energy standards approved by Colorado voters and state legislators over the past four years. The utility’s customers pay roughly 2 percent more on their utility bills to fund renewable energy, with most of it from wind farms.

“We have been very pleased with the amount of solar power the SunEdison plant has been able to deliver,” said Karen Hyde, vice president of resource planning and acquisition for Xcel. “We continue to believe that solar power will be an integral part of our resource strategy.”

The photovoltaic process of the 8.22 megawatt plant in Alamosa is the largest of its kind in the country delivering power to a public utility, although new solar plants being constructed will soon surpass its generating capacity. In fact, facilities using solar-thermal technology, in which solar heat spins turbine generators, will bring larger scale sunpower for utilities’ needs.

Mike Taylor, director of research for the Washington,
D.C.-based Solar Electric Power Association noted that the
industry is growing fast and Alamosa is an “entry level
facility. But you’ve got to start somewhere. So kudos to the
Colorado initiatives that got them out in front on this
project.”

Solar advocates say what is happening in Alamosa is indicative
of an industry that is maturing fast and becoming part of the
accepted energy envelope.