Large Solar Array in Denver, Colorado
by David Barth, written August 16, 2009
Courtesy SunEdison, LLC Beltsville, Maryland, USA and the
General Services Administration, Rocky Mountain Region, GSA Region 8.
In May 2007, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Rocky Mountain Region awarded a $6.9 million contract to
SunEdison for the design and construction of a solar park at the Denver Federal Center (DFC).
The park consists of photovoltaic array located on a six-acre site adjacent to 6th avenue in Lakewood, Colorado. In
2005, Colorado was the first state where voters passed a Renewable Energy Source (RES) Initiative. This solar array
is a step toward becoming the most sustainable campus in the country by 2020. It is important to Xcel Energy to meet
Colorado's RES Initiative which requires large electric companies to generate 20 percent of their power through
renewable energy sources by 2020.
This one-megawatt system generates nearly 10 percent of the one-square mile campus' peak electric demand, the equivalent
of powering 148 homes each year.
SunEdison, LLC, headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, USA, is North America's leading solar energy services provider.
The company provides solar energy at or below current retail utility rates to commercial, municipal, and utility
customers.
The array can be visited at the DFS. Enter the facility from Kipling Street, about one block
north of Alameda Avenue in Lakewood, Colorado. Show a picture ID at the gate for permission to enter. Request to visit
the Solar Park.
