The Utah Public Service Commission has issued approval of an application by Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) to purchase electricity and renewable energy attributes from a large new solar project in Tooele County and deliver them to six large organizations in the state. The application makes use of the Schedule 34 Renewable Energy Tariff, allowing large customers of Rocky Mountain Power to work through the utility to source renewable energy to meet the organizations’ clean energy goals.
The six customers include Salt Lake City, Park City, Summit County, Utah Valley University and two ski resorts, Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort.
The commission order completes a major milestone for the solar project to be online by 2023. Elektron Solar, an 80-megawatt Tooele County solar project, recently executed sales contracts for its full capacity. The project is owned and being developed by D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments.
When constructed, the solar project will be among the largest solar generators connected to the Rocky Mountain Power system. The larger facility size will enable customers to meet a significant portion of their demand with the project’s production at a very competitive price. Salt Lake City Corp. expects to source almost 90 percent of its annual electricity from the project while seeing the electric bill for city operations increase by less than 2 percent.