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    Standard Solar Acquires 12+ MW Project on Oil and Gas Site in Western Colorado

    Sept. 12, 2024
    The ground-mounted solar array will help incorporate renewable energy into Colorado’s oil and gas sector. The project will produce energy to support Caerus Piceance’s Middle Fork compressor station for more stable electricity costs.
    Solar panels providing power at pipeline site in Texas panhandle. Image credit ID 316910 © Jim Parkin | Dreamstime.com
    Solar panels providing power at pipeline site in Texas panhandle. Image credit ID 316910 © Jim Parkin | Dreamstime.com

    Community solar developer Standard Solar has acquired the 12.18 MW Wheeler Gulch project from original owner Caerus Piceance.

    The two will now partner on decarbonizing the latter's oil and gas operations there. 

    The ground-mounted solar array will help incorporate renewable energy into Colorado’s oil and gas sector. The project will produce energy to support Caerus Piceance’s Middle Fork compressor station for more stable electricity costs and reduce dependence on the traditional power grid.

    The new Wheeler Gulch project covers 44 acres along County Road 215 in Garfield County. The site will produce approximately 25 million kWh of clean, renewable electricity each year.

    “By repurposing land previously used for oil and gas operations, we are decarbonizing traditional fossil-fuel production into a beacon of sustainability,” said Megan Byrn, Vice President of Business Development, Standard Solar, in a statement.

    Caerus Operating LLC has close to 7,500 natural gas wells in the Piceance and Uinta basins, producing close to 600 million cubic feet per day. 

    The Wheeler Gulch project with approximately 22,000 solar panels will be integrated with the Xcel Energy grid and all generated power will be used on-site for Caerus’ operations. It will produce enough energy to power approximately 2,200 average American homes annually.

    While Garfield County’s Board of Commissioners has approved the project, in support of Caerus’ efforts to diversify its energy sources, it is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

    Standard Solar has invested in several new community and utility-scale projects over the past year. Private equity firm Brookfield Renewables acquired Standard Solar for $540 million in late 2022.

    Investment in community solar is rising nationwide as an alternative between the more expensive residential rooftop solar and the more remote, less direct utility-scale solar projects. Community solar invites customers to subscribe to the project and its output, and the customers receive credits which lower electric bills and contribute to decarbonization of the regional grid.

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    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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