Dive Brief:
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Builders broke ground last week on what will be Colorado’s largest solar farm — a project that will employ up to 400 construction workers.
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Renewable Energy Systems Americas will build the $253 million Comanche Solar project near Pueblo, CO. A spokesman told The Denver Post he expects the company will hire local workers to fill the jobs. SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy projects developer, will run the farm once it’s finished.
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Half a million panels on 1,000 acres will generate enough electricity for 31,000 homes, a SunEdison executive told The Post. The builder expects to finish the project by the second quarter of 2016, but noted that winter weather could complicate the schedule.
Dive Insight:
Like several other states, Colorado law requires that by 2020, at least 30% of the power supply of large utilities must come from renewable sources.
In May, Minnesota approved that state’s largest solar project, a $250 million, 100-megawatt array that will help Xcel Energy comply with a state law mandating that utilities get 1.5% of their power from solar by 2020.
The following month, online retailer Amazon announced that it will buy energy from Virginia’s largest solar farm, which is scheduled for construction next year.
The largest solar plant in California went online in June. The 579-megawatt Solar Star power plant is the largest solar power plant in the world. The world’s second- and third-largest solar plants are also located in California.
