Alamosa photovoltaic power plant
Encyclopedia
Alamosa photovoltaic power plant, is a 8.22 MWp photovoltaic power plant located in San Luis Valley
San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is an extensive alpine valley in the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico covering approximately and sitting at an average elevation of above sea level. The valley sits atop the Rio Grande Rift and is drained to the south by the Rio Grande River, which rises in the San Juan...

, Colorado, USA. The power plant was developed by SunEdison
SunEdison
Sun Edison LLC owns and operates power plants in North America and provides solar-generated energy to commercial, government, and utility customers. The company provides solar energy services, which include renewable power, monitoring, marketing, renewable portfolio standards, and solar tariff...

, sells all output to Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy, Inc. is a public utility company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving customers in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. Primary services are electricity and natural gas...

, and was completed in December 2007.

The plant occupies 83 acres (33.6 ha) of land, and provided enough power to supply 1400 homes in 2008. This made it the largest producer of photovoltaic power in the United States in 2008. Colorado Xcel customers pay approximately 2% more for electricity to subsidize renewable energy projects. The plant has received some criticism, saying that the amount of land used is large in comparison to the amount of power generated.

See also

  • List of concentrating solar thermal power companies
  • List of photovoltaic power stations
  • List of solar thermal power stations
  • Photovoltaic power stations
  • Renewable energy in the United States
    Renewable energy in the United States
    Renewable energy accounted for 14.3 percent of the domestically produced electricity in the United States in the first six months of 2011. Hydroelectricity is the largest producer of renewable power in the United States. In 2009, the U.S...

  • Renewable portfolio standard
    Renewable Portfolio Standard
    A Renewable Portfolio Standard is a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal...

  • Solar power in the United States
    Solar power in the United States
    Solar power in the United States is an area of considerable activity and there are many utility-scale solar power plants. The largest solar power installation in the world is the Solar Energy Generating Systems facility in California, which has a total capacity of 354 megawatts...

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