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Apr 25, 2008 9:17 am US/Mountain
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Aspen Skiing Co. Teams With School For Solar Power
CARBONDALE, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Aspen Skiing company has teamed up with a private school in Carbondale to build one of the biggest solar farms in Colorado. The company is paying more than $1 million to build the solar array on an acre of land at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School.
"We think it is the largest solar array in Colorado, at least for a while," Matt Jones, vice president of Aspen Skiing company said.
The school is donating the land and will get to buy power from the ski company at a fixed price for the next 20 years. The energy will be used to power one of the school's buildings.
The remaining power will be sold to Xcel Energy and used in the Carbondale grid.
"We think it will generate about 200,000 kilowatt hours per year which is enough to power about 20, 25 homes," Jones said.
Aspen Skiing said the project isn't a big money making venture, but a good example of how communities can come together and create renewable energy solutions.
"We're on the cusp of 'we're doing the right thing,' is starting to become doing the right thing for business," said Jones.
SunSense, a local company, is building the solar farm. It should be up and running by early July.
Aspen Skiing plans to turn the farm over to the school after 20 years.
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