EVRAZ North America to benefit from major Bighorn solar project

One of the chief beneficiaries of the Bighorn solar project in Colorado, the largest on-site project in the USA, will be EVRAZ Rocky Mountain's steel facility as the solar project is located on 728ha of the steelmaker's property in Peublo, Colorado.

EVRAZ North America recently found itself on the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance Deal Tracker Top 10, an annual list highlighting procurement of renewable energy by large commercial and industrial buyers. The steelmaker was included because of its partnership and long-term agreement with Xcel Energy and Lightsource bp to build the 300MW solar facility.

According to Skip Herald, president and CEO of EVRAZ North America, "EVRAZ Pueblo will be the first steel mill in North America to rely on solar power as we proudly use renewable energy to turn recycled scrap metal into new, clean steel, including the most sustainable rail in the world," he said.

Lightsource bp will build, own and operate Bighorn Solar and sell all the electricity it generates to Xcel Energy under a long-term power purchase agreement. EVRAZ North America is Xcel's largest retail electric customer in the state of Colorado.

Bighorn Solar will be located on EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel property in Pueblo, making it one of the largest on-site facilities dedicated to a single customer in the country. Construction began on-site in 2020 and operations there will commence in late 2021. The plan is to install around 750,000 Canadian Solar bifacial solar panels on roughly 1,600 acres of land.