Lightsource bp launches 300 MW solar project in USA

Lightsource bp has started the commercial operation of its 300 megawatt Bighorn Solar project in Colorado that will supply clean energy to the entire power requirement of the Pueblo steel mill owned by EVRAZ North America. 

The project is primarily located on 1,800 acres of land on EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel property in Pueblo. It is the largest on-site solar facility in the US dedicated to a single customer, with more than 750,000 solar panels providing nearly all the plant’s annual electricity demand. This will enable the mill to produce some of the world’s greenest steel and steel products. 

The Bighorn Solar project is currently generating electricity into the grid and is expected to come fully online in November 2021.

Lightsource bp financed, owns, and operates Bighorn Solar and sells the electricity it generates to Xcel Energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement. As part of that arrangement, EVRAZ will receive clean, renewable power and price certainty from Xcel Energy through 2041. The project will enable Xcel Energy to abate 433,770 metric tons of CO₂ emissions, the equivalent of taking 92,100 fuel-burning cars off the road each year.