Community Solar

Coyote Ridge Community Solar Garden

One of the first large-scale community solar gardens in the nation built primarily to serve income-qualified households.

Fort Collins, CO

Colorado

A group of people wearing yellow safety vests listens to a GRID construction staff person as she shows them the back of a solar panel

  • 1.5 MW

    System Size

  • 6000

    Panels

  • $1,056,528

    Lifetime Savings

The Coyote Ridge Community Solar Garden is a partnership between GRID Alternatives and Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association (PVREA), built at the Larimer County Landfill on the west side of Fort Collins, Colorado. It was one of the first large-scale community solar gardens in the nation built to allocate most of its output to income-qualified households — giving renters, and others who can’t put solar on their own roof, a way to share directly in its benefits.

GRID partnered with PVREA and the Colorado Energy Office to build the system. More than 300 community volunteers, including PVREA members and staff, contributed roughly 3,200 hours to construct it over the course of a few weeks. The farm now generates nearly 2.9 million kWh of clean energy each year, powering close to 300 households.

  Located at the regional landfill, this project serves as an example of project development and construction at brownfield sites such as landfills that are otherwise unsuitable for other purposes.

  • I could see things being installed from my home, and I called to ask if the community could get involved, so here I am! It’s really great to see something that’s generating energy on a landfill. This is a lovely, positive image for me, something that my family and community can benefit from. To see it being installed and being a part of it makes it all come together for me.

    Vara Vissa

    Project volunteer and board member for the Air Quality Advisory Board of Fort Collins

What we brought to Coyote Ridge

  • System Design & Engineering

    GRID partnered with Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association (PVREA) and the Colorado Energy Office to design and build the Coyote Ridge Community Solar Garden at the Larimer County Landfill site.

  • Volunteer & Community Engagement

    GRID coordinated with more than 300 community volunteers, including PVREA members and staff, who contributed roughly 3,200 hours to construct the system over a few weeks (per PVREA's site).

  • Incentive Administration

    GRID partnered with the Colorado Energy Office on the project.