Pivot Solar 31 Project

Pivot Energy was awarded a project (located on this land parcel) by Xcel Energy to develop a 2.5 Megawatt (MW) community solar project that will exclusively benefit roughly 500 low-income families with their energy bills. This project, or “garden” as they are known colloquially, is part of a 41MW portfolio of projects that will all serve income-qualified households throughout Xcel’s service territory. The Colorado portfolio of projects will represent one of the largest income-qualified portfolios in the United States, and will impact thousands of households by increasing access to affordable, clean energy. 

Please see this blog post about community solar and what it means for your community. 

Supporting low-income neighbors

This project is specifically designed to support Mesa County families struggling to pay their energy bills. This project will enable at least 500 low-income households to save roughly 50% on their annual electricity costs every year for 20 years. Since 100% of the power generated by this project is donated to low-income Coloradans, this amounts to a lifetime donation of $8-$10 million to local families.  If this project is denied, that donation evaporates, and we cannot change the location of the project due to rules by Xcel Energy.

Energy insecurity is a genuine concern in Mesa County, and some of the residents in the immediate vicinity of this project could greatly benefit from this assistance. According to the non-profit Energy Outreach Colorado that provides energy bill assistance programs to Colorado families in Mesa County last year:

• 3,868 households were approved for the Colorado Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP)
• 995 households applied for bill assistance from EOC, with energy bill debt totaling $821,903

Property tax revenue to Mesa County

Over the project's 20 year life, over $300,000 will be paid in property taxes to support Grand Junction schools, road building, and other necessary community projects. Over $600,000 will be paid in property taxes if the project is extended to 40 years. 

Community Donations

Pivot intends to provide Mesa County with clean, renewable energy to displace the use of fossil fuels, which, during the extraction process, can permanently damage the environment. Pivot is taking the following actions to minimize the visual impact of the solar facility. 

Underground Power Line Measures

While Xcel Energy is responsible for and decides how and where they place the power lines and poles located outside the fence of the solar facility, we are taking actions to help remedy the visual impact concern of the utility infrastructure that will be constructed to distribute the renewable power generation to the main grid. We understand that overhead lines are a significant issue for many neighbors and we informed the utility of the neighboring resident’s preference for underground lines. We are working diligently with the team at Xcel energy to revise the design and bury the lines that would otherwise go overhead . To demonstrate our best efforts to minimize the visual impact as much as possible to nearby residents, Pivot has committed to pay any additional costs associated with underground lines, provided the utility will approve. 

Viewshed/Landscaping Measures

The facility is lower in height than the major highway (i-70) which is located behind the project. Pivot has hired a professional landscape architect to create a plan that will allow Pivot (with full landowner permission) to install vegetative screening, such as trees, on their properties to provide some coverage of the facility to allow for a natural viewpoint of the landscape. Pivot has prepared visual simulations based on site-specific topography and actual design specifications for this project to demonstrate how minimally impactful this project will be to viewshed. 

Pivot commissioned an independent Property Value Impact Study by Cohn-Reznick. The study found no potential impacts to property values from solar. The study analyzed seven existing solar farms with similar characteristics and the property values of the adjacent land, including agricultural, single family and residential properties. The objective report empirically demonstrates that solar has not impacted property values. The report is available for download here. 

Electromagnetic Field (EMF)

Like everyday household electronics, solar PV arrays also emit an electromagnetic field (EMF). According to the World Health Organization, solar photovoltaics (PV) emits a very weak electromagnetic field, about the same level as a household microwave, and found no evidence of danger to human health. People who are located outside the fenced perimeter (everyone) of the solar facility are not exposed to significant EMF from the facility at all. 

Additionally, although solar panels contain some heavy metals similar to those in your cell phone, those components are under thick, tempered glass. No one outside the project's perimeter would ever come in contact with any of the secured materials. We monitor all of our systems 24/7. If there is damage to the array, we will repair the system quickly. Pivot performs preventative maintenance and repairs to ensure the system is safe and operational. For more information about solar safety, visit our Solar Safety Blog Series 101-103. 

Toxicity 

Solar arrays do not produce any pollution or other outward hazards. The primary components of a solar panel are a semiconductor (typically made of silicon), metal, plastic, or glass, and wiring apparatuses. They don’t contain liquids that can leak, nor do they impact the level of sunlight experienced by those living near them. We have a detailed decommissioning plan that will ensure that they are properly recycled at the end of the panels' life cycle. See the section below for more information about how Pivot safely removes and recycles solar panels. 

Studies show that the chemical components of a solar panel do not leach from properly installed and functioning solar panels into the environment, even from events such as storms or fires. Further, damaged solar panels pass the EPA’s Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test, which evaluates the potential for hazardous material to leach into groundwater, meaning the material is considered non-hazardous.

The Health and Safety Impacts of Solar Photovoltaics White Paper conducted by the North Carolina State University’s Clean Energy and Technology Center addresses everyday public health and safety concerns for utility-scale solar PV projects. They covered the areas of toxicity and EMF and found negligible public health impact. 

Pivot Energy commissioned a threatened and endangered species study for this project, and there was no evidence of any threatened or endangered species or their obvious habitat on this site. All applicable agencies will review the required impact studies to verify that the proposed facility will not threaten endangered species or their habitats. Additionally, measures are in place to minimize any impact on the local wildlife. To this end, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, a commenting agency on all development projects, has requested we use thin, wire mesh game fences with no barbed wire, which allows small critters to pass through and keeps larger animals out in the safest way possible. It is worth noting that highways are far more destructive to migration patterns/habitat than any solar project.

The useful life of the solar facility is expected to be at least 20 years. At the end of the term, the project will be decommissioned per a comprehensive plan reviewed by Mesa County during the permitting process. At the end of the project’s useful life, Pivot will suspend operations and decommission the plant, which will include any necessary removal of above and below ground equipment, and site reclamation efforts. Pivot’s obligation under the Solar Lease Agreement is to return the site to the landowner in substantially the same condition that the property was in prior to the improvements being made.

The individual project components to be decommissioned will either be 1) recycled or reused to the maximum extent practicable, or 2) removed from the site and disposed of at an appropriately licensed disposal facility. The general decommissioning approach will be the same whether a portion of, or the entire Project is decommissioned.

Click here to see a copy of the detailed Decommissioning Plan.

Some jurisdictions require surety bonds to ensure the project is decommissioned as intended. While this type of project is inherently bankruptcy remote and bonds are not necessary (nor does Mesa County require one), we are offering to place one anyway at our expense to give the community extra assurance that the project will be decommissioned at the end of the lease. We are in discussions with Mesa County to explore the administrative feasibility of placing a surety bond.

During decommissioning, project components that are no longer needed will be removed from the site and recycled, reused or disposed of at an appropriately licensed disposal facility. We follow best practices for properly and safely removing the solar panels from the site. The demolition debris and removed equipment will be safely removed from the premises and transported to an appropriately licensed disposal facility or recycling center. Photovoltaic modules will either be re-used, recycled or disposed of in accordance with applicable laws at the time of decommissioning.

We work closely with our installation subcontractors to formalize removal and recycling best practices during construction. We pre-plan for shipping those damaged modules to the closest facility and preemptively include that cost in our financial modeling to ensure we're responsibly disposing of all waste during construction, and at all phases of the project.