United Energy, an electrical cooperative serving Colorado’s northern entrance vary, on Jan. 21 mentioned the corporate had an influence buy settlement for its newest solar energy undertaking, the 150-MW Byers Photo voltaic Farm in Adams County. The set up, positioned 10 miles northeast of Byers and about 50 miles east of Denver, is being developed in partnership with Silicon Ranch, one of many nation’s largest impartial energy producers and a community-focused renewable vitality firm.
“As United Energy continues so as to add to its numerous energy portfolio, the Byers Photo voltaic Farm illustrates the best-case situation for native manufacturing,” mentioned Mark A. Gabriel, president and CEO of United Energy. “Our partnership with Silicon Ranch permits us to construct this undertaking with the most recent expertise and improvement strategies to optimize the usage of the positioning. Moreover, there are sturdy monetary and environmental incentives for producing and delivering clear, renewable electrical energy domestically.”
The photo voltaic farm shall be constructed, owned, and operated by Silicon Ranch, who may even be answerable for its operation and upkeep, with United Energy buying all the facility it produces. Because the long-term proprietor of each the power and the underlying property, Silicon Ranch is taking a considerate strategy to stewardship of the land, with plans to determine quick grass prairie on the web site by pre-seeding forward of building. As well as, the corporate is exploring alternatives to make use of managed sheep grazing on the positioning, by way of its Regenerative Power platform of land stewardship that it deploys at websites throughout the nation, together with the Mavericks Photo voltaic Farm that serves United Energy.
“Silicon Ranch is honored by the belief and confidence that United Energy and its members proceed to put in our firm to ship worth on their behalf, and we’re grateful for the chance to develop our relationship and the optimistic influence we will have collectively,” mentioned Silicon Ranch co-founder and CEO Reagan Farr. “As we enter our second decade of partnership with United Energy, Silicon Ranch seems to be ahead to persevering with our significant work collectively by collaborating to assist make communities stronger, more healthy, and extra resilient right here in northern Colorado.”
United Energy has partnered with Silicon Ranch on 4 different vitality infrastructure tasks since 2014— Fort Lupton Photo voltaic (13 MW), Mavericks Photo voltaic (6.5 MW), Platteville Photo voltaic (16 MW), and Rattlesnake Photo voltaic (6 MW). Every of those installations, positioned throughout the cooperative’s service territory, was developed working carefully with native governments and neighboring landowners to verify the tasks fulfilled the wants of every neighborhood and United Energy.
“Byers Photo voltaic Farm continues United Energy’s march towards vitality independence,” mentioned Gabriel. “Since leaving our wholesale energy contract on Could 1, 2024, United Energy has labored to construct an influence portfolio that each reduces our carbon emissions and stabilizes our prices. Our imaginative and prescient to diversify and hyper-localize energy manufacturing can pay dividends to cooperative members in an more and more unstable vitality market.”
—POWER edited this content material, which was contributed by the Silicon Ranch media relations workforce.
