Platte River Power Authority on Wednesday issued a request for proposals seeking a new solar facility capable of generating up to 150 megawatts of additional photovoltaic electric power for the nonprofit wholesale supplier owned by Longmont, Loveland, Estes Park and Fort Collins.
Platte River wants to add the noncarbon generating capacity no later than Dec. 31, 2023 — when state and federal tax credits for solar installations are scheduled to end — and receive power from the installation under a 15- to 25-year purchase agreement.
The new solar facility also will need to connect to Platte River Power Authority’s transmission system in northern Colorado or substations located near any of its four owner communities.
“Additional solar power is critical to diversifying our energy mix,” Jason Frisbie, the general manager and CEO of Platte River Power Authority, said in a statement. “This project represents another significant step toward our long-term goal of providing our communities with 100% noncarbon energy.”
Platte River currently receives energy from a 30-megawatt solar installation at the Rawhide Energy Station north of Wellington. Another 22 megawatts of solar capacity, will be added at Rawhide in 2020, and 225 megawatts of new wind power capacity will be built in southern Wyoming by 2021. Once completed, Platte River Power Authority will generate half of its electricity via renewable sources, ahead of schedule in meeting Longmont’s resolution to resolution to have 50% of it’s electricity generated from carbon-free sources by the year 2022.
However, according Pat Connors, Platte River’s vice president of power supply, meeting Longmont’s goal of having 100% of its energy generated from renewable sources by the year 2030 will continue to be a challenge.
“The final 50% will be harder, but it’s that last 5 to 10% that is going to be extremely hard,” Connors said. “To get that last little increment of storage, needs increase exponentially. We’re in the process of looking at that, but part of this diversification policy is dependent on some technology improvements around storage and the ability to control loads.”
Proposals by Oct. 25, and depending on viability, Platte River could announce a winning bidder by the end of the year.
