Largest solar project in Northern Colorado breaks ground in Severance

The largest solar generation project in Northern Colorado is now underway.

Platte River Power Authority broke ground on the Black Hollow Solar project in Severance last week. Once complete, the project will generate enough power to serve more than 63,000 homes, Chief Strategy Officer Eddie Gutiérrez said.

The project will be built on about 1,400 acres near Black Hollow Reservoir in Weld County and be the largest solar field in Northern Colorado, according to PRPA. The first phase of the project is set to be completed in May 2025 with the final phase completed sometime the following year. In total, the project will have 257 megawatts of solar generation capacity — five times the capacity of PRPA's largest existing solar project — increasing PRPA’s total solar capacity to 309 megawatts.

This project will cover about 20% of PRPA's energy load, Gutiérrez said.

“Black Hollow Solar represents a major milestone in our journey of working toward our non-carbon energy goals,” PRPA CEO Jason Frisbie said in a news release.

PRPA’s board of directors approved the nonprofit’s resource diversification policy in 2018, which directed staff to proactively move toward 100% noncarbon energy generation by 2030.

Gutiérrez said they're on track to reach about 90% noncarbon energy by 2030, and Black Hollow Solar is “vital” in reaching their goal.

“We are beyond excited,” Gutiérrez said. “Northern Colorado should be very proud, leading the way with one of the largest solar facilities. And it shows that we’re not stopping.”

Once the Black Hollow Solar project is completed, noncarbon energy will meet about 75% of the annual energy demand by PRPA’s customers in the four communities it serves — Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park and Longmont, according to a PRPA news release.

The Black Hollow Solar project was initially set to be completed by 2023, “and then the pandemic hit,” Frisbie said during the July 10 groundbreaking ceremony.

But despite delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, cost and labor issues, Frisbie said he is “proud of everyone sticking together” to ensure this project still happened.

“Since 2018, there’s not a single thing that’s gone in our favor,” Frisbie said. “But yet, we’re still moving forward.”

The Black Hollow Solar project will replace the power supply from PRPA's share of Craig Unit 1. PRPA has previously stated it plans to shut down Craig Unit 1 and its other coal unit, Rawhide Unit 1 near Wellington, by 2030.

As PRPA makes this transition to noncarbon power, Gutiérrez said the organization is committed to keeping employees and retraining them so they don’t lose their jobs.

“You don’t leave your communities behind in a clean energy transition, and that includes our employees,” Gutiérrez said.

Gutiérrez said large-scale wind power will likely be PRPA’s next projects, and it anticipates having more than 400 megawatts of wind-generated power on its system by 2030.