Construction Underway of Large-Scale Solar Facilities

Silicon Ranch Corporation and the Renewable Energy Team of McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. are well under way with construction at Silicon Ranch's 8-Megawatt solar power project in Weld County, Colorado.

Poudre Valley REA announced earlier this year their signed purchase power agreement with Silicon Ranch to develop the large 8-megaWatt project that will deliver renewable energy to Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association in Northern Colorado for the next twenty years.

Silicon Ranch, owner and operator of the solar project, selected McCarthy for its extensive track record with utility-scale power projects. McCarthy has an office in Denver and is expanding its renewable operations in Northern Colorado with plans to secure various local subcontractors and craftsmen to provide on-site construction work for the three-month project, which began on Sept. 17.

The solar facility's construction is expected to support 75-150 direct and indirect jobs. McCarthy will provide local workers seeking utility-scale solar construction experience with onsite training in pile driving, tracker assembly and panel installation. Applications are available at www.mccarthy.com/poudre-valley-rural-electric-association-solar. The jobsite construction trailer, which is located at 8505 CR 80.5, Severance, Colorado 80546, will also accept applications 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Once construction completes in December, the 8 MWAC solar project will produce clean electrical power from nearly 100,000 solar modules, enough to power some 1,300 households. The solar initiative includes two Northern Colorado project sites of approximately 70 acres each; “Valley View Solar” is located in Greeley, near the Windsor substation, and “Skylark Solar” is located near Severance, close to the Carey substation.

PVREA members and the general public can view construction progress at www.pvrea.com/LocalSolar.