Major Solar Power Project Brightens Colorado’s Future

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor The sun is shining on Colorado’s side of the street, and it’s exactly what the centennial state needs now that it has won a massive new contract. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced that the state is [...]

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

The sun is shining on Colorado’s side of the street, and it’s exactly what the centennial state needs now that it has won a massive new contract. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced that the state is the winner in an eco-friendly energy race that will bring serious capital to the treasury. This means that Colorado is selected to build the country’s largest solar power panel factory. General Electric is planning an impressive facility that will produce enough panels to generate 400 megawatts of electricity per year. That’s the power necessary to charge 80,000 homes annually.

The solar panel plant will be constructed in the Majestic Commercenter, located in the Adams County section of Aurora, the Denver Business Journal reports. Gov. Hickenlooper stated that the investment will attract other major business ventures to Colorado and that the move essentially establishes the state as a viable business partner.

Specs for the plant are astronomical: it will be the size of 11 football fields and will require funds of around $300 million to build. At the end of the construction phase, it will employ 355 people. Out of those necessary $300 million, $22.4 million are part of the incentive package that won Aurora the project. The project will be one of the most important of its kind through sheer production volume, a feat it will come to relish with solar power being pushed more and more into the mainstream.

The plant’s estimated completion date is in 2012 and its first products will be available in 2013 according to DBJ.

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