Colorado’s largest community solar developer Pivot Energy and nationally recognized solar asset developer, owner, and operator Standard Solar, Inc. announced today they will develop three new community solar projects in Colorado. Accordingly, one megawatt of the portfolio will be solely dedicated to serving low-income subscribers.
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Additionally, the remaining three megawatts have already been subscribed to by local organizations and municipalities. Thus, the projects in total represent four megawatts of new clean and abundant solar energy for their subscribers.
Bringing sustainable options to low-income subscribers
In fact, two projects will be located in Garfield County and the third one in Jefferson County. Both Pivot and Standard Solar expect those projects to produce enough electricity to power more than 700 homes.
Regarding the development process, Pivot Energy developed and constructed the solar gardens. Once completed, the company will provide customer management services to the projects. On the other hand, Standard Solar will finance, own, and maintain the systems.
In this sense, both Garfield County’s solar gardens will come online in June 2021. Indeed, Pivot plans to develop additional gardens on the western slope in 2021. Similarly, the project located in Jefferson County will be energized later this summer.
Notably, solar community projects are growing at a rapid pace across Colorado. Remarkably, they can help local communities, and low-income subscribers achieve clean energy targets, the companies expressed in a press release.
Furthermore, those projects also provide the opportunity for significant cost savings to anyone who pays an electricity bill.
In fact, one key organization supporting the increased development of community solar is the Clean Energy Economy for the Region (CLEER) association. Accordingly, it is a leading clean energy advocacy group for Colorado’s western slope region. Particularly, it works through the Garfield Clean Energy Collaborative and other initiatives.
Reception
“Our continued partnership with Standard Solar has been a tremendous success as we work to meet the growing demand by Coloradans for more clean energy,” said Jon Fitzpatrick, vice president of project development for Pivot Energy.
Thus, “this is an exciting portfolio for us to develop that will support local jobs and create economic benefits for Garfield and Jefferson (subscribers) while advancing the state’s clean energy progress.”
Similarly, Shaun Laughlin, Head of US Strategic Development for Standard Solar, said, “Developing these projects alongside Pivot Energy was a true collaboration leveraging our joint resources and our shared values in renewable energy and accessibility.”
Hence, “we’re proud to do our part to accelerate the energy transition through acquiring high-quality, renewable energy assets projects like these throughout the US.”
Finally, Katharine Rushton, CLEER’s renewable energy program director, pointed out; “We’re excited to see the launch of these new projects.” In fact, “solar energy is an important part of Garfield County’s economic development strategy. Besides, these projects will enable the local governments who have subscribed to cover their electricity needs with locally produced energy.”
Indeed, “access to low-cost solar energy is particularly helpful for those at the lower end of the income spectrum,” noted Ms. Rushton. So, “we welcome the designation of 1 MW of community solar for low-income subscribers.”
