Westminster’s Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. will build one of the world’s largest solar-panel power plants in northeastern New Mexico.
Colorado’s second-biggest power supplier on Tuesday said it has entered into an agreement with Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar to develop the 30-megawatt photovoltaic power plant.
Called “Cimarron I Solar Project,” it will feature 500,000 solar panels and serve the power needs of roughly 9,000 homes.
Tri-State’s plant will be located on 250 acres in Colfax County between the towns of Cimarron and Springer.
It will employ 120 to 140 workers during construction scheduled to begin by April 2010.
Tri-State spokesman Jim Van Someren said the company chose New Mexico because, like Colorado, it requires electric co-operatives to get 10 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2010.
The location also has a transmission line that could deliver power from the proposed plant — unlike areas such as the San Luis Valley in Colorado, which has tremendous solar resources but suffers from transmission constraints.
Tri-State supplies power to 12 co-ops in New Mexico and 18 in Colorado.
Colorado is working hard on the task of increasing transmission capacity, said the Governor’s Energy Office.
“The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has a major investigation underway to address the need to modernize our transmission grid,” agency officials said.
Xcel Energy, Colorado’s biggest power supplier, buys power from an 8.2-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant near Alamosa.
Gargi Chakrabarty: 303-954-2976 or gchakrabarty@denverpost.com
