Compiled by CEN Staff

Rifle has fired up the final portion of its solar array, making it the largest array on the Western Slope and the second largest in the state. It would have been even larger, officials said, had state regulations not stood in the way.

Rifle has joined other municipalities in asking the state
Public Utilities Commission to review those regulations
and boost the amount of power that on-site solar arrays can provide.

“What’s interesting is, little old Rifle is in there with the city of Denver and Denver International Airport. The city of Boulder has submitted comments and even a number of solar providers,” said Mike Braaten, Rifle’s governmental affairs and energy coordinator. “Even Xcel Energy has said we agree with Rifle and other commentators that it needs to be revised.”

Built in two portions, the array was created to power the
city’s water and wastewater systems, but its 2 megawatts of
power is all PUC will allow.

Rifle’s new solar arrays are part of an “energy village” the
town is seeking to create. Despite its place in the center of
western Colorado’s gas fields, the city is looking to expand
its energy economy to include renewals like solar and biomass.

“Being in the heart of the extractive industry it’s kind of
like a perfect marriage,” said Mayor Keith Lambert. “As natural
resources deplete over time, we’ll be situated well with
renewables over the long term.”

Rifle contracted with SunEdison, the nation’s largest solar provider, to build the 2.3-megawatt system. A 1.72-megawatt system will power its wastewater system when it’s completed. A 6-megawatt system powers its raw water pump station.

SunEdison built the facility for free, with an agreement that
Rifle would buy power from it for 20 years, at prices Rifle
officials say could be less than would have paid Xcel. After 20
years, Rifle has an option to take over the array.

Officials estimate the system will offset over 152 million
pounds of carbon dioxide that would have been emitted during
the production of electricity from fossil fuels over the
20-year agreement.

Rifle’s project dwarfs a 147-kilowatt array built by the Aspen
Skiing Co. to sell power to Colorado Rocky Mountain School in
Carbondale. Although it falls short of Xcel’s massive
8.22-megawatt plant near Alamosa, the state’s largest array, it
is among the largest non-utility arrays in the country.

But it can’t get any bigger, unless the PUC changes its rules,
put in place in July 2006 after voters approved Amendment 37,
calling for a greater contribution of solar power to the grid.

The limits were imposed because of “reliability concerns” over
an increase in solar power during peak ours to the grid, said
PUC spokesman Terry Bote. “How much of this intermittent
generation at these on-site locations could the utilities
handle in their network?” he said. “There was not much history
at the time for these.”

The issue will be one of many the PUC will take up at a two-day
rule-making hearing today and Friday as municipalities press
for the limits to be lifted.

“We’re hopeful that they’re going to reconsider that,” Lambert
said, “because I think not only is the city of Rifle interested
in it. As the governor moves forward with his new energy
economy, I think many municipalities will be interested in
looking to solar as an alternative.”