While several solar companies have been considering setting up solar farms south of the Hayden area, only one has started the application process with Routt County, according to a county planner.

But there is bit of a hitch.

According to County Planner Alan Goldich, Trapper Solar — a subsidiary of international renewable energy firm RWE — made an initial application under the county’s older zoning requirements, but the county passed a new, more demanding Unified Development Code last May, just days after Trapper’s initial application.

Trapper Solar is interested in an area south of Hayden, said Goldich, at a site located off County Road 53 at the Johnson Ranch, which could be the future home of the company’s solar array.

The combined project of solar panels and energy storage hopes to produce 250 megawatts — enough to supply over 44,000 homes with electric power, according to Routt County Planning Department documents.

The Trapper solar project would be the largest in Routt County and would include storage systems that could store as much as 125 megawatts

According to the county’s planning department documents, Trapper is looking at the Hayden because of the downsizing of a nearby coal-burning power plant that will leave excess carrying capacity in transmission lines that could be used by solar energy companies to transmit energy to other grids.

Goldich has requested Trapper to respond to a letter asking for clarifications and many more details.

Goldich said a Trapper representative told him the requested information should be available in a few weeks and would respond to questions related to identifying water sources available for construction and operation of the solar array and where the 275-member construction force needed to build the project would live; along with clarifications over the sources of construction aggregate and cement and what wildlife mitigation project does Trapper propose to make up for disruption of elk movements.

The company said other answers will be provided for storm water and water impact mitigation plans and erosion and fugitive dust management plans.

According to RWE documents, Trapper would generate $20 million in property taxes for the county, of which $13 million would go to the school district. The project is expected to have a 35-year life span, employ 4-5 long-term workers and reduce air pollution by 800,000 pounds of carbon emissions currently produced by Xcel Energy’s Hayden Station coal plant.

Mike Kruger, president of Colorado Solar and Storage Association, said there are two more solar companies interested in potentially building solar farms in the Hayden area. While he couldn’t identify the two companies, he said the industry overall is waiting for uncertainty to ease at the federal level. 

“Smaller solar installations, like the household or neighborhood level, are definitely slowing down. But at the larger, utility level, they still need more and more energy for a growing economy,” said Kruger, adding that solar still has a quick buildout advantage over gas, since a new solar farm can come online in 12-24 months.

What the renewable energy industry is focused on in the near term, said Kruger, is if tariffs will be imposed April 2 and if the U.S. Congress Ways and Means Committee will cut investment tax credits, which are important to the sector.