Four new community solar gardens totaling 8 MW of capacity break ground in Colorado –

UX Solar, a joint-venture partnership between Excelsior Energy Capital and Unico Solar Investors LLC, along with Namasté Solar, announced the groundbreaking on four new community solar gardens in the Denver metro area, totaling 8 MW of capacity. In 2019, Xcel Energy selected Unico Solar and Namasté Solar to develop and build the new community solar gardens.

This solar project will operate on a mixed subscription-based model, providing large-scale access to solar energy for both residential and private commercial customers. The companies say this mixed-use subscription model is a first. Seventy-five percent of the renewable electricity generated will be provided to 16 buildings owned by Unico Properties in Boulder and Denver. The remaining twenty-five percent will be sold to residential customers.

UX Solar will lease a total of 1.7 million square feet (or 40 acres) between the four sites. Each site is expected to generate 3,649,327 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, totaling 291,946,179 kWh over the 20-year contract term with Xcel Energy.

These community solar gardens work toward Colorado’s overall goal to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2040, as set forth by Governor Jared Polis’s HB-1003, the Community Solar Gardens Modernization Act.

The new sites are part of a 250-MW portfolio of commercial and industrial solar projects being built by Unico Solar and Excelsior across North America. The sites will sell clean electricity to a diversified mix of consumers, including commercial businesses, property owners, municipalities, educational institutions, entertainment facilities, utilities and other electricity customers under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs)

Jason Sharpe, Co-Owner and CEO at Namasté Solar, said, “The Namaste Solar team brought 15 years of local experience in Xcel Energy’s Solar*Rewards programs to this portfolio which proved invaluable over the last year of development. Now, having broken ground, we look forward to leveraging our in-house designs and employee-owner lead construction team to build high quality, reliable systems and bring more renewable energy to our local communities.”