News

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe will construct one of the largest solar farms in the U.S.

Voices From the Edge of the Colorado Plateau | By Clark Adomaitis

Published February 15, 2024 at 2:44 PM MST

The digital model of the proposed Sun Bear solar farm in Towaoc, CO, shows the farm will run eight miles long, one mile wide, and include 2.2 million solar panels.

A proposed solar farm on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation will have 2.2 million solar panels and will be eight miles long and one mile wide.

Tribal officials worked with the international renewable energy company Canigou Group to plan the Sun Bear Solar Farm near Towaoc, Colorado. Officials say the project will create more than 500 local jobs for electricians and laborers.

Officials are planning to break ground on the construction of the Sun Bear Solar Farm later in 2024, with the goal of producing electricity in 2026. Annual capacity is estimated to be about 756 megawatts.

Canigou Group and Adkins Consulting conducted biological and archeological surveys of the grounds where Sun Bear is set to be constructed.

Canigou Group’s director, Justin Passfield, said the project will cost more than $1 billion. Passfield said electricity generated from the solar farm will connect to the Western Area Power Administration power line. Still, it’s unclear what regional entities Canigou will sell the electricity to.

“We're thinking about the power needs within Colorado,” said Passfield. “But also, it makes sense not to transmit power too far from where you are. Having said that, we're going to be producing a large amount of power. So I'm not sure that all of it will be able to be consumed within Colorado.”

Canigou Group gave a public presentation about the Sun Bear solar project at the Ute Mountain Ute Casino in Towaoc, CO.

Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Manuel Heart is excited about job opportunities for Ute Mountain Ute tribal members and the opportunity for the tribe to become a significant player in renewable energy.

“We, as the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, had been a fossil fuel tribe with oil and gas for a long time, probably over 50 years. Today, with the changes in legislation, global warming, and climate change, you can see the impact of what's happening to our world. So renewable is the new future right now,” said Heart.

This story is part of Voices From the Edge of the Colorado Plateau. Voices is a reporting collaboration between KSUT Public Radio and KSJD Community Radio. It seeks to cover underrepresented communities in the Four Corners. The multi-year project will cover Native, Indigenous, Latino/Latina, and other communities across southwest Colorado.

Explore more Voices stories on the KSUT website.