3.5-MegaWatt (AC) solar plant is the fourth for PVREA & Silicon Ranch partnership.
Solar facility named after local high school
Poudre Valley REA | KERSEY, Colo. September 12, 2017 — Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association (PVREA) and Silicon Ranch Corporation today announced that a 3.5 megawatt (MWAC) solar facility in the Town of Kersey, Colorado is now generating clean, renewable electricity for the benefit of PVREA members. The 30-acre facility features technology that enables more than 40,000 solar panels to track the sun from east to west and will provide enough low-cost, renewable power to help serve more than 600 PVREA households annually.
The solar facility is located on the northwest corner of County Road 55 and Latham Street in Kersey. The project site is just south of the Platte Valley High School, and Silicon Ranch and PVREA are partnering with the school to create educational opportunities for students to learn more about the role solar energy plays in a diversified energy mix. As a tribute to the special partnership, the team has named the facility the Platte Valley Solar Farm.
Silicon Ranch, one of the nation’s largest independent solar power producers, funded the construction and will own and operate the facility for the long-term, an approach it takes with every project it develops. Silicon Ranch hired McCarthy Building Companies to construct the facility, who hired local labor and local subcontractors for the three-month construction project.
PVREA, a rural electric cooperative serving more than 40,000 homes and business across three counties in Northern Colorado, will receive all the energy the facility produces at cost-competitive rates over the life of the contract. PVREA has previously partnered with Silicon Ranch on three other solar projects and recently announced a 1.95-megawatt community solar project in Fort Collins, which will produce enough solar energy to power 300 homes and is anticipated to go live the end of September.
“We pride ourselves on being good environmental stewards,” said Jeff Wadsworth, PVREA President & CEO. “This solar facility is yet another example of our board’s commitment to bringing our members affordable local generation that makes a positive and significant impact on the communities we serve.”
Silicon Ranch President and CEO Matt Kisber said, “Silicon Ranch is proud to expand the long-term partnership we have with PVREA to provide its members with low-cost, renewable power. We are equally honored to be the newest corporate citizen of the Town of Kersey. All of us at Silicon Ranch celebrate the commissioning of this solar facility as a team effort and are grateful for all the local support this project has received.”
PVREA members and the general public can view more information on the project at www.pvrea.coop.
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Read more about this project:
Greeley Tribune – “Silicon Ranch, PVREA solar facility in Kersey now in operation”
Biz West – “Kersey solar farm begins operation”