Xcel Energy on Tuesday announced it has selected SunPower Corp. to build a high-efficiency solar- panel plant in Alamosa.
The 17-megawatt photovoltaic plant would come online by the end of 2010. The project is expected to create about 200 jobs during construction.
Xcel would buy the power from San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower as part of a long-term supply contract. Xcel declined to reveal the cost of the plant or the terms of the supply contract. One megawatt of solar power capacity could serve 350 customers.
“This plant will go west of our current solar plant,” said Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz. “There is a substation in the area, as well as transmission lines, making it a very desirable location.”
Xcel currently buys power from a $60 million, 8.2-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant in Alamosa that is operated by Beltsville, Md.-based SunEdison.
Colorado laws require Xcel to get 20 percent of its electricity sales from renewable resources such as wind and solar by the end of 2020.
Xcel had asked for bids for up to 25 megawatts of solar power in January 2008. It took almost a year to make a selection, Stutz said.
SunPower was selected from among 23 bids submitted by 18 solar- power developers. The bids totaled roughly 400 megawatts.
From March 2006 through December, Xcel has added 16.29 megawatts of solar power from systems on customers’ property, ranging from rooftop panels to the 2-megawatt system at Denver International Airport.
Two weeks ago, Westminster- based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. entered into an agreement with Tempe, Ariz.- based First Solar to build one of the world’s largest solar-panel power plants in northeastern New Mexico.
Gargi Chakrabarty: 303-954-2976 or gchakrabarty@denverpost.com
