Sandhills Energy’s solar energy project on the City of Yuma wastewater treatment facility property continues to progress.
Mechanical completion and commercial operation of the project are anticipated to occur in September, according to Raphael Martinez, director of business relations for Sandhills Energy.
The solar panels are being installed on 15 acres located on the southeast corner of the wastewater plant property. When completed, it will contain 7,776 modules.
Martinez said production for the first year of operation is anticipated to be 5,869.11 MWh. That equates to electricity use of 697 homes in a year, based on the calculated average residential usage from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The city will receive 18-percent of the output.
Sandhills has a Generation Interconnection Agreement with the City of Yuma. The project is being done through SE Municipal Colorado, LLC. It has a 25-year lease with the City of Yuma, at $500 per acre per year ($7,500 total for the 15 acres), with a 2-cent escalation every year. The city also has an agreement that it will purchase power from SE Municipal Colorado, LLC. It had been mentioned in past Yuma City Council meetings that it could save approximately $6,000 year in energy not purchased from Municipal Energy Association of Nebraska (MEAN), the city’s wholesale electrical supplier.
There will be an on-site safety training with the Yuma Volunteer Fire Department and Electric Department before the facility goes online.
The recently passed reconciliation bill at the federal level cuts back funding for renewable energy projects. However, Martinez said the Yuma project will not be affected as funding already had been earmarked for the Yuma project prior to the recent legislation.