BUILDING SUN IN COLORADO

SunPower to build new Colorado solar power plant
Sandy Shore, April 7, 2009 (AP via Forbes)

"SunPower Corp… will build a 17-megawatt solar plant in southern Colorado and sell the power generated to Xcel Energy Inc.

"It is the latest in a handful of agreements announced by solar energy manufacturers and utilities as more states adopt standards requiring a percentage of electricity to be produced from renewable resources.

"The plant will be built on a parcel near a SunEdison 8.2-megawatt plant in the Alamosa area about 160 miles south of Denver near the Colorado-New Mexico border…"

The Alamosa 8.2-megawatt SunEdison plant nearby. The SunPower-Xcel installation will be twice as big. (click to enlarge)

"…SunPower plans to hire about 200 workers for the construction phase…[T]he plant will be the second-largest high-efficiency solar PV power plant in North America when completed in 2010.

"Xcel put a bid out for solar power last year to help meet a Colorado mandate requiring it to produce 20 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020.

"Xcel currently produces about 10 percent from solar, wind and other renewable resources…"