Solar Garden Sells Out Power Before Construction

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Set to begin construction this fall, the country’s largest solar garden has already sold out all of its electricity in a deal that could set a precedent for public/private partnerships and achieving sustainability goals.

Colorado Springs Utilities awarded a contract to Denver-based SunShare last November to buy the electricity generated from its 10,000-plus solar panel installation that will be built on the south end of Colorado Springs. The Pikes Peak Library District, Security Water District, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the city of Manitou Springs will join hundreds of individual consumers in buying the 2 megawatts of power the solar garden will generate. When sales were pushed out in April, everything all anticipated kilowatts sold out within 10 weeks, much faster than what the utilities provider had sold out in several years for solar energy, according to Karen Gados, business development and communications director for SunShare.

Manitou Springs is the first city in the country to have all the electricity for city-owned facilities to come from a solar garden. The city will pay 5.6 cents per kilowatt-hour and will use a quarter of the total electricity the solar panels will generate. The 20-year agreement may help the city meet its goal to reduce carbon emissions 30 percent by 2020.

J.W. Postal, SunShare’s senior vice president, says this is indicative of a growing trend in which government or commercial entities can adopt solar power without having to go through the cost and labor of installing it on their roof.

“Manitou Springs is the first city to get 100 percent of its electric power, not counting street lights, from a community solar garden. We are really excited about it,” Postal said. “For years [Manitou Springs has] had sustainability goals, and this is a way for them to finally meet them very quickly.”

The move to power the city sustainably stemmed from Manitou Mayor Pro-Tem Coreen Toll, who told SunShare CEO David Amster-Olszewski three years ago that she wanted government and business to be able to buy power from solar gardens. Back then, only homeowners and school districts were allowed to access solar garden power.

“Usually…if a school does a solar array, they are just providing energy for their entity,” Gados added. “The great thing about this program is that it allows the municipal organizations like cities and counties, school districts, commercial organizations and individual home owners to all participate in this together and have the community aspect.”

SunShare has only been in business for three years, but its relationship with Colorado Springs Utilities, plus the amount of media attention over its massive solar garden, has helped boost public awareness of renewable energy in the area.

“The really unique thing about the program here is that it allows private developers to partner together with utilities to build solar gardens and provide this renewable energy to this community. There are a couple other solar models and a couple other states coming online with these programs, but what is really exciting about Colorado and what we have going here is the public/private partnership, which allows the private developers with their expertise and the utilities who have long-established energy relationships with their customers to partner together,” Gados said.

“The three-way relationship between the customer, developer and utility is perfect for government entities that are looking to meet sustainability goals, potentially save money and embrace renewable energy,” Postal added.