The Hooper Solar PV Power Plant is a 50 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 2015. The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, under a long-term power purchase agreement.
Facility details
The facility occupies about 320 acres of previous agricultural farmland, and is located near several other large solar power plants in the sunny and cool San Luis Valley. It was developed and constructed by SunPower, and is owned by a subsidiary of the French company TotalEnergies which is also the majority owner of SunPower. The plant is built using SunPower's Oasis Power Plant System, which includes single-axis tracking, robotic panel cleaning, and real-time monitoring at the company's operations center.
Construction began in early 2015, and employed about 150 workers. Mortenson Construction completed the site preparation and installed the array support piles and other civil structures. Commercial operations began in December 2015 shortly after the delivery of first electricity to the grid.
The facility is sited adjacent to a San Luis Valley substation and has been planned to accommodate a future 100 MW expansion.
Electricity production
+Generation (MW·h) of Hooper Solar PV Power Plant Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total 2015 5,224 5,224 2016 5,127 8,767 11,297 11,738 13,721 14,035 14,442 11,938 10,991 9,872 7,039 5,541 124,418 2017 5,036 7,845 10,976 12,115 14,283 15,479 13,426 11,235 9,411 11,145 7,110 7,299 125,358 2018 6,617 7,781 10,062 12,194 14,052 15,101 13,163 13,142 12,631 9,419 7,764 5,621 127,547 2019 6,417 6,762 10,073 11,858 12,624 14,200 13,441 13,682 11,294 11,102 6,900 5,029 123,382 2020 6,869 7,236 11,086 12,389 14,386 13,947 14,455 11,781 11,482 8,651 7,455 5,633 125,372 2021 5,692 6,281 8,028 9,748 9,604 11,941 12,859 12,206 10,455 8,092 6,044 5,415 106,355Average Annual Production (years 2016–2021) ---> 122,072
See also
San Luis Valley Solar Ranch Solar power in Colorado Solar power in the United States Renewable energy in the United States Renewable portfolio standard
External links VIDEO: SunPower Robotic Panel Cleaning
References