More Colorado communities to get solar power

Solar companies Pivot Energy and Standard Solar announced they intend to build five more community solar sites across Colorado. The announcement came less than a year after the companies announced the start of similar sites in 13 communities located along Interstate 70 in the state.

The 13 projects totaled 10.3 Megawatts of electrical power for several towns, school districts and housing authorities. The first ten projects in the original portfolio have completed construction and are operating today with the final three under development.

The latest announcement will be on five solar sites providing 8.9 megawatts of power. Construction on the first two projects will begin at the end of this summer with completion by summer 2020.

Standard Solar will finance, own and maintain the community solar arrays that Pivot Energy will develop and construct. O

Together, the projects are expected to produce 17,791,770 kilowatt hours of energy annually. That translates to offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions from 2,671 passenger vehicles driven for one year and the CO2 emissions from 1,507 homes’ energy use for one year.

Colorado installed 20 MWs of community solar last year, bringing its total installed base to about 55 MWs and placing it fourth in the country for cumulative capacity, according to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.