Tooele Solar Farm Achieves Commercial Operation – Chrony

ON On April 25, the Elektron Solar Project reached commercial operation. The project is providing renewable energy to six customers in Utah. Salt Lake City is the largest customer for the farm’s energy. The farm has brought Salt Lake City closer to its renewable energy goals set in A positive climate roadmap to 2040.

Electron Solar Project

The Elektron Solar Project is an 80-megawatt solar farm in Tooele County. In addition to Salt Lake City, the project provides power to Park City, Summit County, Utah Valley University, Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort.

DE Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) announced the completion of the project. According to SLCgreen, DESRI is the largest renewable energy developer contracted by Rocky Mountain Power and Mayor Erin Mendenhall to develop the project.PR Newswire also reported that PacifiCorp has entered into 20- and 25-year power purchase agreements with Elektron Solar under Rocky Mountain Power’s Schedule 34.

“The Elektron Solar project will help us achieve our goal of 50 percent electricity use in city operations,” said Christopher Thomas, senior program manager for energy and climate in Salt Lake City.

The Climate Positive 2040 Roadmap outlines these and other city renewable energy goalsFor more information on Salt Lake City’s Sustainable Development Goals, visit Here.

In accordance with tElektron Solar Project: “Salt Lake City is the largest consumer of electricity and has committed to purchasing about half of the energy produced by the solar farm… which equates to about 80% of the city’s electricity consumption in a given year.”

Originally, Electron Solar The goal was to “(achieve) 50% net renewable energy for municipal operations by 2020.” But the project has faced delays due to various challenges. For example, COVID-19 has caused production delays, Thomas said.

“There was also a tariff investigation, looking at whether additional tariffs should be imposed on panels coming from Southeast Asia. At times, the entire supply chain for utility-scale solar panels was frozen in the United States,” Thomas said. “Luckily, we were able to get through that. But that required rewriting the underlying contracts several times, which can be scary on a project like this, because everyone has to agree to new terms. In our case, that meant pushing back our online launch date several times.”

The future of renewable energy

Thomas noted that future efforts to increase renewable energy use in Utah will likely include solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy.

“We would prefer that the energy sources that support the program be built in Utah. However, there is a chance that they could be built in Wyoming and potentially even Idaho,” he said.

The Salt Lake City Office of Sustainability plans to achieve “100% renewable energy for community electricity by 2030.” HB 411, The Community Renewable Energy Act, puts these plans into action with a partnership with Utah Renewable Communities. More information about this effort can be found here.

Thomas pointed to another important project underway called the Utah Renewable Communities Effort.

“This is an initiative that Salt Lake City has joined with 17 other communities across the state. We are working with Rocky Mountain Power to create a completely new renewable energy program that is designed to meet the goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030,” Thomas said.

That program is still in development. But Thomas said the plan’s efforts to engage communities in decision-making could be “the first of its kind anywhere in the country.”

On the importance of community involvement in renewables, Thomas said, “Become as energy-savvy as you can. I was fortunate to have a career in renewable energy. I think when people don’t understand how (renewable energy) works, it’s very easy to get confused or even misinformed about these really important decisions.”

(email protected)

@Alina_Walkerr