Solar Projects

The Town of Erie is investigating the possibility of creating large-scale solar installations inside Town boundaries. One of the Town's sustainability goals is to source 20-30% of communitywide electricity usage from renewable sources by 2025. These large projects are a major step toward reaching this goal.

Utility Scale Solar: Electricity generated from a utility scale project is not used directly at the host site - it is sent to a utility provider and added back to the electricity grid. These projects are generally 2MW or greater.

Community Solar/Solar Garden: A solar garden is a form of distributed generation that involves a solar array with multiple subscribers who may purchase a portion of the power produced and receive a credit on their electric bill. Colorado defines solar gardens as projects between 10kW to 2MW in size located in or near the same community as the customers being served.

• Low-Income Community Solar: Focus is on reduction of the household energy burden to a pre-determined LMI customer. Policymakers establish targeted policies for low-income customer adoption. This can be done through carve-outs, incentives, and programs.

On-site Solar: Installation of equipment to generate renewable energy at the point of use/where it is consumed. Net metering or battery storage required. Colorado allows this.

These projects require a large footprint to be successful. This is where you come in! The Town has identified a few possible locations for this type of installation and we want your input. Do you agree with the places we've found already? Do you have other places in mind? Share below!