Black Hills Energy submitted a report to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission this week summarizing bids received for its Renewable Advantage plan. The plan will double the company’s renewable energy portfolio up to 65% by 2023 and result in cost savings for rate payers. The 30-day report submitted to the PUC provided an overview of the utility’s competitive bidding process to build out 200 MW of wind, solar, and storage to be built in Pueblo County, Colorado.
Black Hills reported that they received 54 bids from 25 different bidders ranging from developers located locally in Southern Colorado and throughout the country. The report provided a median bid summary which showed an impressively low price of $22.25 per MWH for solar and $6.50 per kW/month for storage of all durations.
“The response to our Renewable Advantage solicitation has been outstanding,” said Vance Crocker, Black Hills Energy’s vice president in Southern Colorado. “We received the lowest price offerings we’ve ever received in a competitive solicitation, an affirmation that Renewable Advantage is the right plan and the right time to secure long-term cost savings for our customers through lower power supply costs.”
SP Global Market Intelligence noted earlier this year that the falling cost in solar farms and lithium-ion batteries has produced a “dynamic new hybrid resource capable of providing energy from the sun after dark and potentially reshaping America’s power mix in the 2020’s.” Just two years ago, Xcel Energy reported record low solar plus storage bids of $36/MWh.
The fast falling prices in solar plus storage projects have seen lead to a big demand in these projects from utilities and companies across the Western United States. Buyers like Arizona Public Service Co., Glendale Water & Power, Google LLC, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, NV Energy Inc. Portland General Electric Co., Salt River Project, Xcel Energy Inc., and numerous community choice aggregators are locking in the low prices for consumers and investing millions into their state and local economies.