Copper Mountain Solar Facility

Copper Mountain Solar Facility
Copper Mountain Solar 1 (at left)
Map
CountryUnited States
LocationBoulder City, Nevada
Coordinates35°47′00″N 114°59′30″W / 35.78333°N 114.99167°W / 35.78333; -114.99167
StatusOperational
Construction beganJanuary 2010
Commission dateDec 2008 - Mar 2021
OwnerSempra Generation
Solar farm
TypeFlat-panel PV
Site area4,000 acres (1,600 ha)
Power generation
Units operational9 million First Solar panels
Nameplate capacity802 MWAC
Capacity factor27.9% (average 2017-2019)
Annual net output1,348 GW·h, 337 MW·h/acre
External links
CommonsRelated media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The Copper Mountain Solar Facility is a 802 megawatt (MWAC) solar photovoltaic power plant in Boulder City, Nevada, United States. The plant was developed by Sempra Generation. When the first unit of the facility entered service on December 1, 2010, it was the largest photovoltaic plant in the U.S. at 58 MW.[1][2][3] With the opening of Copper Mountain V in March 2021, it again became the largest in the United States. It is co-located with the 64 MW Nevada Solar One, 150 MW Boulder Solar, and 300 MW Techren Solar projects in the Eldorado Valley, thus forming a more than 1 gigawatt (GW) solar generating complex. By comparison, generating capacity at the nearby Hoover Dam is about 2 GW.

History

First unit

Sempra Generation completed the 10 MW demonstration plant named El Dorado Solar near the existing El Dorado natural gas-fired power station and the Nevada Solar One concentrated solar power plant in December 2008. [4] It was the company's first venture into utility-scale solar generation. A 48 MW second phase named Copper Mountain was constructed from January to December 2010 at a cost of about $141 million.[2] [5] At its construction peak more than 350 workers were installing the 775,000 First Solar panels on the 450-acre (180 ha) site. [1][3][6] The power from the original 10 MW plant is sold to Pacific Gas & Electric under a separate 20-year power purchase agreement.[7][8]

Second unit

Based on its successes with the first unit, a second 150 MW unit was approved adjacent to the site in late 2010 and a construction plan announced On August 4, 2011.[2][9] The first 92 MW phase came online in January 2013, and the 58 MW expansion phase was eventually completed in early 2015.

Third unit

Construction on the third, and thus far largest, 250 MW unit began in 2013 and was completed in early 2015, with a formal dedication ceremony on 30 April 2015.[10] This unit is located about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) north of the prior grouping, and is capable of generating enough electricity to power about 80,000 homes.[11]

Fourth unit

Copper Mountain Solar 4 is the fourth unit of the Copper Mountain Solar complex. Construction on the 94 MW unit, adjacent to the grouping of Units 1 and 2, commenced in 2015. It also sustained about 350 construction jobs at peak, and completed year-end 2016. In contrast to prior units, the rows of panels run north to south, with solar trackers tilting the rows from east to west in order to maximize energy production.[12]

Fifth unit

The 250 MW Copper Mountain 5 unit went online in March 2021.[13][14][15]

Facility unit details

Map of solar farms in the Eldorado Valley
Copper Mountain Solar Facility
Unit Capacity
MWAC 		Complete
Date 		Coordinates Owner PPA
Recipient 		PPA
Length
Unit 1
Pilot
[16]		 10 MW Dec 2008 35°47′06″N 114°59′46″W / 35.78510632°N 114.99598468°W / 35.78510632; -114.99598468 (CM1 Pilot) Sempra U.S. Gas & Power Pacific Gas & Electric 20yrs
Unit 1
Phase 2
[1][17]		 48 MW Dec 2010 35°46′48″N 114°59′27″W / 35.77997069°N 114.99090615°W / 35.77997069; -114.99090615 (CM1 Phase2) Sempra U.S. Gas & Power Pacific Gas & Electric 20yrs
Unit 2
Phase 1
[18][19]		 92 MW Dec 2012 35°47′15″N 114°57′42″W / 35.78737752°N 114.96158993°W / 35.78737752; -114.96158993 (CM2 Phase1) Sempra U.S. Gas & Power & Consolidated Edison Development Pacific Gas & Electric 25yrs
Unit 2
Phase 2		 58 MW Apr 2015 35°48′29″N 114°58′02″W / 35.80803793°N 114.96732424°W / 35.80803793; -114.96732424 (CM2 Phase2) Sempra U.S. Gas & Power & Consolidated Edison Development Pacific Gas & Electric 25yrs
Unit 3
[20][11]		 250 MW mid-2015 35°53′23″N 114°57′24″W / 35.88979281°N 114.95674042°W / 35.88979281; -114.95674042 (CM3) Sempra U.S. Gas & Power & Consolidated Edison Development Southern California Public Power Authority 20yrs
Unit 4
[21][22]		 94 MW Dec 2016 35°47′22″N 114°58′49″W / 35.78934926°N 114.98015631°W / 35.78934926; -114.98015631 (CM4) Sempra U.S. Gas & Power Southern California Edison (SCE) 20yrs
(2020 start)
Unit 5
[13]		 250 MW Mar 2021 Consolidated Edison Development

Electricity production

Total Facility Generation
(Annual Sum from All Units Below)
Year Total Annual MW·h
2008 826
2009 21,661
2010 50,922
2011 129,590
2012 199,689
2013 352,561
2014 503,599
2015 1,078,497
2016 1,122,818
2017 1,342,662
2018 1,364,969
2019 1,336,619
Average (2017-2019) 1,348,083
Generation (MW·h) of Copper Mountain Solar 1 - CM10 subunit (10MW)[23]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2008 826 826
2009 416 727 2,136 2,472 2,863 2,102 2,486 2,882 2,386 1,573 1,063 556 21,661
2010 299 554 1,367 1,746 2,474 2,920 2,256 2,845 2,652 1,606 1,529 898 21,146
2011 971 1,301 1,631 2,275 2,512 2,874 2,103 2,469 1,765 1,700 1,041 903 21,546
2012 556 726 1,048 1,619 2,373 2,451 2,172 2,132 2,426 2,356 1,909 1,477 21,245
2013 1,152 1,412 1,736 2,015 2,169 2,208 1,709 1,706 1,678 1,951 1,327 1,312 20,375
2014 973 1,017 1,466 1,545 1,828 2,096 1,835 1,995 2,066 2,093 1,779 1,177 19,869
2015 994 1,394 1,808 2,045 1,874 2,064 1,912 1,879 1,733 1,530 1,456 1,196 19,885
2016 626 3,662 1,177 1,241 1,589 1,600 1,801 1,757 1,715 1,423 1,369 1,101 19,061
2017 803 892 1,540 1,696 1,898 2,002 1,937 2,128 2,006 1,951 1,271 1,197 19,321
2018 930 1192 1,527 1,906 2,016 2,361 2,011 2,034 1,956 1,534 1,199 928 19,595
2019 1190 1302 1,800 2,130 2,258 2,487 2,511 2,445 2,090 2,029 1,385 935 22,562
Generation (MW·h) of Copper Mountain Solar 1 - CM48 subunit (48MW)[24]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2010 1,690 2,412 3,918 4,305 5,394 6,670 5,387 29,776
2011 7,756 8,077 9,249 10,350 10,992 10,636 9,231 10,164 8,558 9,165 7,147 6,719 108,044
2012 7,564 7,486 9,414 9,668 11,081 10,638 9,422 9,029 9,507 9,180 7,320 6,069 106,378
2013 7,290 7,986 9,320 10,156 10,504 10,195 8,769 8,870 8,887 9,320 6,863 7,091 105,251
2014 7,355 7,125 9,633 9,796 10,454 10,131 8,784 9,171 9,146 8,988 7,672 5,201 103,456
2015 6,573 7,807 9,359 10,147 9,204 9,639 9,052 9,250 8,947 7,994 7,549 6,415 101,936
2016 5,915 8,338 8,933 8,619 8,696 9,651 9,963 9,157 9,028 7,993 6,329 5,669 98,291
2017 4,206 4,675 8,068 8,883 9,941 10,485 10,143 11,147 10,506 10,221 6,658 6,270 101,204
2018 4,754 6,097 7,809 9,749 10,310 12,075 10,285 10,400 10,004 7,843 6,131 4,746 100,205
2019 5,166 5,652 7,818 9,251 9,804 10,799 10,904 10,618 9,077 8,811 6,013 4,061 97,974
Generation (MW·h) of Copper Mountain Solar 2 (150MW)[25]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2012 5,751 9,416 13,857 14,648 15,569 12,825 72,066
2013 15,532 16,971 19,879 21,460 22,276 22,448 19,450 19,402 19,397 20,112 14,949 15,059 226,935
2014 15,742 15,521 20,509 20,723 22,239 22,234 19,590 20,143 20,614 20,043 16,628 11,000 224,986
2015 15,813 22,847 32,606 35,639 33,533 35,903 34,065 34,143 32,696 29,524 28,180 19,300 354,249
2016 21,561 28,303 32,347 28,763 29,914 35,865 36,913 32,992 33,124 29,486 26,004 20,358 356,633
2017 15,226 16,922 29,206 32,157 35,988 37,955 36,720 40,351 38,032 37,002 24,103 22,699 365,361
2018 17,435 22,360 28,638 35,752 37,810 44,280 37,717 38,140 36,689 28,763 22,485 17,406 367,474
2019 18,873 20,650 28,565 33,798 35,821 39,453 39,840 38,793 33,164 32,193 21,969 14,836 357,955
Generation (MW·h) of Copper Mountain Solar 3 (250MW)[26]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2014 3,789 11,030 14,733 20,025 23,153 30,470 29,671 22,417 155,288
2015 33,165 45,414 55,583 60,855 57,697 61,213 56,920 56,164 51,528 44,901 43,550 35,437 602,427
2016 33,304 49,489 53,820 53,388 62,617 62,240 60,812 57,121 53,930 47,424 40,083 31,626 605,854
2017 34,306 34,423 54,975 59,303 64,274 64,486 55,440 56,390 52,768 54,330 38,729 38,337 607,761
2018 37,913 42,311 51,664 59,515 62,897 64,859 57,551 56,242 56,140 48,832 42,398 33,544 613,866
2019 35,491 36,265 45,385 55,641 56,435 61,710 60,577 60,209 54,467 55,545 40,816 29,610 592,151
Generation (MW·h) of Copper Mountain Solar 4 (94MW with tracking)[27]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2016 4,903 14,020 13,526 10,530 42,979
2017 10,349 11,502 19,851 21,857 24,461 25,798 24,958 27,427 25,851 25,150 16,383 15,428 249,015
2018 12,518 16,053 20,560 25,669 27,146 31,791 27,079 27,383 26,341 20,650 16,143 12,496 263,829
2019 14,023 15,344 21,225 25,114 26,617 29,316 29,603 28,826 24,642 23,921 16,324 11,024 265,977

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Copper Mountain Solar Facility.

References

  1. ^ a b c America's Largest PV Power Plant Is Now Live (December 6, 2010), Renewable Energy World.
  2. ^ a b c "Copper Mountain Solar, the Largest Photovoltaic Solar Plant in the U.S." Solar Thermal Magazine. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Shine, Conor (March 20, 2012). "Five things you should know about Copper Mountain Solar before President Obama's visit". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  4. ^ "First Solar - Copper Mountain Solar 1". First Solar. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  5. ^ Goldberg, Delen (April 3, 2011). "Questions emerge over tax breaks for solar project". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  6. ^ "Copper Mountain Solar I". Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  7. ^ "First Solar to Build 48MW Solar Power Plant for Sempra". Renewable Energy World. April 16, 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  8. ^ "America's Largest PV Power Plant Is Now Live". Renewable Energy World. December 6, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  9. ^ Sempra to expand Copper Mountain solar plant, Reuters, Aug 4, 2011
  10. ^ "SoCalGas Newsroom". mediaroom.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  11. ^ a b "Copper Mountain Solar 3 - Sempra Renewables". semprausgp.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  12. ^ "Copper Mountain Solar 4 - Sempra Renewables". semprausgp.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Table 6.3. New Utility Scale Generating Units by Operating Company, Plant, and Month, 2021, Electric Power Monthly, U.S. Energy Information Administration, May 26, 2021". Archived from the original on 2016-11-23. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  14. ^ Nevada Utility is Putting $2 Billion into Solar Power and Storage, Renewable Energy World, June 01, 2018
  15. ^ Commission Approves Largest Clean Energy Investment in Nevada History, T&D World, January 08, 2019
  16. ^ "Copper Mountain 1 facility details". Archived from the original on 2016-06-19. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  17. ^ "PG&E Contracts With Sempra Generation For More Solar Power" (Press release). Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). July 27, 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  18. ^ "Copper Mountain 2 facility details". Archived from the original on 2016-06-15. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  19. ^ "Copper Mountain Solar 2 - Sempra Renewables". semprausgp.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Copper Mountain 3 facility details". Archived from the original on 2016-06-15. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  21. ^ "Copper Mountain 4 facility details". Archived from the original on 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  22. ^ Copper Mountain Solar 4
  23. ^ "CM10, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  24. ^ "CM48, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  25. ^ "Copper Mountain Solar 2, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  26. ^ "Copper Mountain Solar 3, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  27. ^ "Copper Mountain Solar 4, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved November 2, 2019.