Platte River Power Authority and Qcells USA Corp. broke ground on northern Colorado’s largest solar generation project on July 10.
“Black Hollow Solar represents a major milestone in our journey of working toward our noncarbon energy goals as outlined in the board-approved Resource Diversification Policy,” said Jason Frisbie, Platte River general manager/CEO. “We are proud that Black Hollow Solar, when completed, will bring the total amount of solar capacity in our portfolio to 309 MW, help replace the coal-fired generation we will be shutting down before the end of the decade and is by far the largest solar generation project in northern Colorado.”
The first phase of the project is expected to be complete in May 2025 and will deliver approximately 367,000 megawatt-hours of energy annually to Platte River’s owner communities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland.
Phase two of Black Hollow Solar will add an additional 107 MW of capacity in 2026, totaling 257 MW for this project. This is enough to power over 63,000 homes and will increase Platte River’s total solar capacity to 309 MW.
Per the agreement with Platte River, Qcells will provide turnkey solutions including project development, engineering, procurement and constructions services and will supply over 540,000 Qcells modules on the Black Hollow Solar project. The electricity generated will be sold to Platte River beginning in May 2025 under a long-term power purchase agreement.
Energy will be delivered to Platte River’s owner communities in Colorado’s north Front Range through a substation currently under construction, adjacent to Platte River’s existing transmission system.
The site is located northeast of Black Hollow Reservoir, near the Town of Severance, Colo., and the infrastructure will utilize nearly 1,400 acres.
Platte River and Qcells engaged with local authorities and stakeholders, including neighbors, state agencies, town councils and county leaders to identify this site. The location was selected after careful review of physical and environmental impacts, land-use constraints and stakeholder feedback.
As Platte River continues to replace coal-fired resources with renewable energy technology, the addition of Black Hollow Solar along with existing renewable resources will increase Platte River’s total noncarbon energy generation on an annual basis to 58% serving almost 75% of the utility’s four owner communities’ energy needs.
Platte River is currently evaluating its next round of renewable energy projects including wind and battery storage to continue the pursuit of the utility’s and its owner communities’ noncarbon energy goals. Learn more about Platte River’s plans for a noncarbon future at prpa.org/future.
