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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Bison Solar Plant
The Bison Solar Plant, also known as the Rawhide Flats Solar Plant, is a 30 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station in Larimer County, Colorado located about 10 miles (16 km) north of the town of Wellington. The plant is notable for being one of the first in the U.S. built to a 1500 Volt system specification. The electricity is being sold to the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

Facility details

The plant occupies about 190 acres (77 ha) distributed adjacent to PRPA's natural gas and coal-fired Rawhide Energy Station. It uses 117,120 polycrystalline silicon panels (Model SN-72cell: rated ~310 Wp, ~16% efficiency, 1500 Vdc isolation) that the manufacturer, S-Energy, claims are less susceptible to potential-induced degradation. The panels are mounted in rows onto single-axis trackers. The rows are organized into 12 blocks, and the electricity produced from each block is connected to the electric grid through a Samurai Series 1500 Vdc, 2700 kW / 2700 kVA inverter built by TMEIC. The boost in system voltage from the previous 1.0 kV standard to 1.5 kV enables the inverter to operate at higher efficiency and reliability, and is expected to reduce overall balance of system costs over the lifetime of the facility.

The project was developed, constructed, and continues to be operated by Boulder-based juwi Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the German renewable energy company juwi AG. Construction began in February 2016, and commercial operation began in October 2016. The project was financed and is owned by PSEG Solar Source, a subsidiary of New Jersey's Public Service Enterprise Group. The completed facility cost about US$54 million.

On February 14, 2019 PRPA announced that it entered an agreement to add another 20 MW of solar photovoltaic generating capacity at the site, anticipated to be online in early 2020. The addition will include 2 MW of lithium-ion battery storage.

Electricity production

Generation (MW·h) of Bison Solar
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2016 5,290 3,506 2,509 11,305
2017 2,377 3,703 5,180 5,718 6,741 7,306 6,337 5,303 4,442 5,260 3,356 3,445 59,168
2018 3,339 3,926 5,077 6,153 7,090 7,620 6,641 6,631 6,373 4,752 3,917 2,836 64,356
2019 3,187 3,358 5,002 5,880 6,270 7,052 6,675 6,795 5,609 5,514 3,427 2,498 61,276
Average Annual Production (years 2017-2019) ---> 61,600

See also

References

  1. ^ "S-Energy to Supply 74 MW of Solar Modules for Utility-Scale Projects in Colorado". prnewswire.com. May 11, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  2. ^ "TMEIC to Supply New 1500V Solar Ware Samurai Inverters for 30MW U.S. Project". tmeic.com. April 25, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  3. ^ "Sun Shines on Colorado's Newest Solar Project". pseg.com. September 29, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  4. ^ "PSEG Solar Source, PRPA, juwi dedicate new Rawhide Flats Solar Center". innovationnews.com. September 30, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  5. ^ "S-Energy SN-72cell Standard Module". s-energy.com. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  6. ^ "juwi Portfolio - Bison Solar". juwiamericas.com. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  7. ^ "GE Partners with Looop, Bringing 1.5kV Solar Inverter Technology to Japan" (PDF). gepowerconversion.com. July 19, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  8. ^ "Platte River Power Authority contracts for more solar energy". Reporter-Herald. February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  9. ^ "Platte River Power Authority - Solar". prpa.org. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  10. ^ "Bison Solar, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
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