CU Boulder and Pivot Energy have broken ground on an off‑campus solar project in Weld County, reported by Olivia Doak in the Greeley Tribune. Construction began August 5 on a 5 megawatt facility that CU will tap through a 20 year agreement for off‑site renewable energy to help power campus buildings.
The project is expected to generate about 9.5 million kilowatt hours per year, roughly the usage of three large CU lab buildings on the east campus. It will use about 8,000 panels, covering an area comparable to four football fields, on a site five miles northeast of LaSalle. Power feeds the local grid, and CU will receive credits on its Xcel Energy bills. Colorado’s SB21‑261 enabled the partnership.
The Bullet Point Brief
- CU and Pivot started building a 5 megawatt solar facility in Weld County on August 5; CU will claim its output through a 20-year off‑site agreement.
- Forecast output is 9.5 million kilowatt hours per year, equal to the annual power used by three CU east‑campus labs.
- About 8,000 panels will fill an area the size of four football fields near LaSalle, five miles to the northeast.
- Energy goes to the local grid; CU keeps buying from Xcel while getting bill credits for this project’s production.
- The deal exists because of SB21‑261, which made this off‑site subscription model possible.
My Bottom Line
I am an all‑of‑the‑above energy guy. Oil and gas, renewables, nuclear, geothermal, let them all compete in a real market. As a Weld County Commissioner, I have sat through hundreds of hearings. A landowner and a solar company cut a deal. They come before the town council or the Board of County Commissioners. We apply code, we mitigate impacts, we vote. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I was comfortable with my votes, and I likely voted to approve this project (there have been so many, they blend together). Pivot shows up, meets or exceeds our code, does outreach, and behaves like a respectable operator in Weld County. On the micro level, this is how the process should work.
Here is why this article still ticks me off. CU Boulder gets to preen about sustainability from a safe distance, while the land use change lands in Weld County. That picture in the linked article looks like the people who only wear hard hats and grip shovels when posing for a photo opp are standing in either a pasture or an alfalfa field. Translation: ag ground becomes glass and steel, so the CU campus can feel virtuous. If Boulder loves these projects so much, build them next to the Dean’s office. Park the panels on Pearl Street. Live next to it. Don’t shove it in Weld with some sort of out-of-sight-out-of-mind smugness.
The state, under Governor Polis and a Democrat legislature, picked winners. Renewables are mandated. That is not a free market. The result is a stampede to Weld County because we have land and sun. The 70 year old farmer, whose kids do not want the operation, gets offers for his water from metro cities and a lease check from a solar developer to meet an artificial demand so Boulderites can feel good. The face of Weld County changes forever.
On the micro level, code and process worked. On the macro level, it stinks. Hey Buffaloes, if you want a photo op with a shovel, do it on your side of the damn county line. We’re growing tired of looking at your solar-paneled virtue signal.
