Greater Sandhill Solar Plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Greater Sandhill Solar Plant | |
|---|---|
 The station viewed from Lane 8 North, showing the movable panels | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | San Luis Valley, Mosca, Colorado |
| Coordinates | 37°41′08″N 105°53′27″W / 37.68556°N 105.89083°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | March 2010 |
| Commission date | March 2011 |
| Owners | Metlife and John Hancock Financial Services |
| Operator | SunPower |
| Solar farm | |
| Type | Flat-panel PV |
| Site area | 200 acres (81 ha) |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 19 MWAC |
| Capacity factor | 28.4% (average 2011-2021) |
| Annual net output | 47.3 GW·h, 236 MW·h/acre |
The Greater Sandhill Solar Plant is a 19 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station in the San Luis Valley, located near the town of Mosca, Colorado. It was the largest solar facility in the state when it came online at the end of 2010.[1] The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, under a long-term power purchase agreement.[2]
The facility occupies about 200 acres of a 320 acre plot of water-constrained former agricultural land, and is sited adjacent to the Alamosa photovoltaic power plant which was completed two years earlier.[2][3] It was developed and built by SunPower using the company's most-advanced high-efficiency technology. It contains about 50,000 modules which are mounted onto T-20 trackers.[2] This tracker design was newly released in 2010, and was marketed as enabling the highest production.[4][5]
The plant is owned by Metlife and John Hancock Financial Services, which also partnered to finance the construction.[6] Buesing Corp of Phoenix AZ was contracted to set the 16,800 helical screw pile foundations.[7] The facility was completed in nine months, and was at full production by the end of December 2010.[8] The start of commercial operations was announced in March 2011.[1][6]
Electricity production
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,763 | 1,841 | 2,113 | 1,445 | 8,162 | ||||||||
| 2011 | 2,508 | 3,119 | 3,927 | 5,056 | 5,565 | 5,966 | 4,635 | 5,244 | 3,983 | 3,933 | 2,652 | 2,274 | 48,862 |
| 2012 | 987 | 1,191 | 1,625 | 2,595 | 5,196 | 5,612 | 5,456 | 5,569 | 5,850 | 5,918 | 4,864 | 4,266 | 49,131 |
| 2013 | 2,816 | 3,218 | 3,990 | 3,874 | 4,775 | 4,872 | 4,653 | 4,637 | 4,289 | 4,450 | 3,056 | 3,058 | 47,689 |
| 2014 | 3,024 | 3,420 | 4,281 | 3,990 | 4,441 | 4,973 | 4,165 | 5,072 | 4,019 | 3,804 | 3,102 | 2,087 | 46,378 |
| 2015 | 2,196 | 3,132 | 4,431 | 4,365 | 4,044 | 4,678 | 3,762 | 4,349 | 4,041 | 3,212 | 3,201 | 4,242 | 45,653 |
| 2016 | 1,717 | 2,494 | 3,057 | 3,035 | 3,586 | 3,772 | 3,937 | 3,132 | 6,810 | 6,578 | 4,846 | 4,340 | 47,303 |
| 2017 | 1,896 | 2,954 | 4,133 | 4,563 | 5,379 | 5,829 | 5,056 | 4,231 | 3,544 | 4,197 | 2,677 | 2,749 | 47,210 |
| 2018 | 2,461 | 2,894 | 3,742 | 4,535 | 5,227 | 5,617 | 4,896 | 4,888 | 4,698 | 3,503 | 2,888 | 2,091 | 47,439 |
| 2019 | 2,436 | 2,567 | 3,823 | 4,501 | 4,792 | 5,390 | 5,102 | 5,194 | 4,287 | 4,214 | 2,619 | 1,909 | 46,834 |
| 2020 | 2,617 | 2,757 | 4,223 | 4,720 | 5,480 | 5,313 | 5,507 | 4,488 | 4,374 | 3,296 | 2,840 | 2,146 | 47,760 |
| 2021 | 2,463 | 2,719 | 3,475 | 4,219 | 4,157 | 5,168 | 5,565 | 5,283 | 4,521 | 3,503 | 2,616 | 2,344 | 46,033 |
| Average Annual Production (years 2011-2021) ---> | 47,299 | ||||||||||||
