Solar Power Meets Hydropower On Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Land

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The Intertubes lit up this morning with information a couple of community of progressive 115-kilowatt, fish-safe hydropower methods below development on irrigated farmland owned by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Colorado. That’s simply the tip of the clear vitality iceberg for the sovereign nation, which can be laying plans for an enormous solar energy mission topping 900 megawatts.

Look Ma, No Fish: New Hydropower System Leverages Current Pipes

Earlier than we get to that new solar energy mission, let’s check out the brand new hydropower system. It could appear to be small potatoes, however the 115-kilowatt hydropower community is important as a result of it has the potential for replication at farms throughout the US which can be struggling for aid from electrical energy prices and the impacts of local weather change.

The community as a complete is predicted to yield a financial savings of about $42,000 on electrical energy prices annually in help of the 7,700-acre Ute Tribe Farm and Ranch Enterprise, which grows corn for the Tribe’s non-GMO Bow and Arrow model cornmeal, amongst different agricultural merchandise.

As soon as accomplished, the hydropower community will encompass 10 in-conduit hydroelectric turbines and related tools engineered by the New York Metropolis agency Rentricity. The corporate focuses on leveraging extra water stress in new or current pipelines to generate electrical energy, with out sacrificing circulate.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe mission launched in 2022 with funding from The Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Pure Assets Conservation Service of the US Division of Agriculture. 5 of the generators have been put in thus far. Along with zero-emission electrical energy, the mission consists of water-conserving renovations to the prevailing irrigation system.

Rentricity started life again in 2003 in New York College’s first ever cleantech incubator. It was prepared for industrial operation in 2012. The Colorado mission is important as a result of it marks the corporate’s first enterprise-wide deployment of its new Renewable Power AgriPower™ (REAP™) platform. With the seal of approval from state and federal funders, Rentricity anticipates catching the eye of different large-scale agricultural operations.

Large Photo voltaic Energy Challenge Wins FONSI From BIA

The brand new hydropower system could have a big affect on the underside line sustainability of the Farm and Ranch Enterprise, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is already taking an enormous leap up in scale with the proposed Solar Bear solar energy mission.

If permitted, the photo voltaic array can be positioned on about 3,800-4,224 acres of the Tribe’s land, south of its headquarters in Towaocalongside US Hwy 160, below the wing of developer Canigou Group.

CleanTechnica’s Steve Hanley checked in on the photo voltaic mission in February, noting that it marks a step within the Tribe’s shift away from leasing its land for oil and gasoline improvement.

In an replace on June 4, Canigou Group dropped phrase that the photo voltaic mission acquired its FONSI (Findings of No Vital Affect) from the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs), with a Discover to Proceed anticipated shortly thereafter. If all goes in accordance with plan, construction on the solar array will start later this 12 months.

Child Steps To Extra Photo voltaic Energy

The numbers on the official Solar Bear photo voltaic mission web site differ from some media reviews, however they’re spectacular by any measure. With a capacity topping 900 megawattsthe $1.5 billion array is predicted to sprawl over 1000’s of acres with 2.2 million photo voltaic panels.

Solar Bear is just not the Tribe’s first flip across the solar energy block. Again in 2020, the US Division of Power recapped the Tribe’s earlier arduous pursuit of a modestly-scaled community solar energy mission weighing in at only one megawatt, to be positioned close to the Ute Mountain On line casino. It was designed to account for greater than 1/4 of the Tribe’s electrical energy demand. As described on the on line casino’s web site, the solar array provides electricity for the on line casino, resort, the farm and ranching enterprise, and about 100 houses. A financial savings of $3.4 million is predicted over its lifespan.

“The UMUT first set its sights on solar 7 years ago when it drafted a strategic energy plan with technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy,” the Power Division’s Nationwide Renewable Power Laboratory famous, in a 2020 recap of the Tribe’s solar energy journey.

The 2014 draft plan kicked off a years-long technique of funding functions, Tribal Council approvals, interconnection negotiations, weather-related delays, and provide chain points culminating within the last commissioning of the mission on March 12, 2020 — simply in time for the Covid-19 lockdown to start.

Past Photo voltaic Tasks

Whereas that work was nonetheless below manner, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe was already leveraging its expertise to have interaction in one other enterprise, a 144-kilowatt photo voltaic mission consisting of seven rooftop photo voltaic arrays on buildings positioned in White Mesa, Utah. All collectively, the rooftop arrays are anticipated to save lots of greater than $800,000 over a 30-year lifespan whereas accounting for greater than 95% of the electrical energy demand in that a part of tribal lands.

The rooftop mission concerned a grant software to the Power Division, which introduced an award of $245,660 to match the Tribe’s contribution on Might 5, 2020.

All that is by means of saying that the Solar Bear mission didn’t pop up out of nowhere. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has been assessing and taking part within the vitality transition for greater than 10 years, and they’re prepared for the subsequent step.

So is Canigou. The agency is already scouting the Solar Bear photo voltaic mission for large-scale green hydrogen production. Electrical energy from the photo voltaic array would run an electrolyzer system that jolts hydrogen from water. That’s a serious step up from the present hydrogen provide chain within the US, which relies upon nearly solely on extraction from pure gasoline.

There being no such factor as a free lunch, Canigou may also should account for using water assets in electrolysis methods, so keep tuned for extra on that.

In the meantime, circling all the way in which again round to that in-conduit hydropower mission, Rentricity can be prepared for scale-up. The corporate notes that its newly launched Renewable Power AgriPower system is designed “specifically for large farm enterprises utilizing gravity-fed center-pivot irrigation systems.”

Rentricity can be aiming to deploy its trademarked “Flow-to-Wire” generators at water methods, meals processors, and different water-centric operations together with information heart cooling methods, so maintain on to your hat.

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Picture: The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is bringing a singular hydropower system and one of many nation’s largest photo voltaic tasks to Colorado as a part of their climate action plan (cropped, courtesy of Rentricity).