Dec 8 2010
A proposal to build a 145-megawatt plant eight miles southeast of the town got a final hearing from Saguache County commissioners.
Tessera Solar, a Houston, Texas-based company, was expected to give evidence before the Commissioners on the final public hearing of its proposed solar plant to be located on County Road T, west of State Highway 17. The Commission was expected to hear the impact of the plant planned over 1,526 acres of area and the alleviation measures expected from the plant. The Commission also planned to hear the public comments on the issue.
The proposed solar farm will incorporate 5,728 SunCatchers and each of them will stand around 38 feet tall and produce 25 kW of solar power resulting in a total power generation of 145 MW. The technology proposed for the farm incorporates a motor over each of the solar panel to continuously track the movement of the sun and will make noise during such tracking movements. The company reduced the number of solar panels it originally planned for the project by 23% to maintain the noise level within 55 decibels at points 25 feet away from the proposed plant. But an independent noise testing performed by the county established that Tessera has downplayed the noise levels of the revised project and contested that the noise levels will still cross the set guidelines and standards of the state.
Also an alliance of the San Luis Valley Renewable Communities raised concerns about allowing the project over the wetlands. Though Tessera argued that the proposed project will only utilize around 0.6 acres of the wetlands, the alliance contested that the proposed state rules that limiting the pumping of ground water in that area will lead to increase in the water table resulting in the occurrence of more wetlands, which will be contaminated due to the proposed solar farm.