Empire Electric agrees to buy power from proposed solar park

Empire Electric Association has agreed to buy power from Valley Range Energy Park, the solar and battery storage project proposed east of Cortez, the cooperative announced in a news release dated October 5. The deal depends on the project winning a permit from Montezuma County, which it does not yet have.

Graphic: Cortez Current. Source: Empire Electric Association news release, Oct. 5, 2026

Empire is one of four Colorado electric cooperatives in the agreement. The others are Gunnison County Electric Association, San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative and San Miguel Power Association. The release describes the four as a “cooperative partnership” buying the power through the Bring Your Own Resource program of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the wholesale supplier that sells the cooperatives their electricity.

Valley Range is a 125-megawatt solar facility paired with a 62.5-megawatt battery storage system. Accelergen Energy is developing it in unincorporated Montezuma County.

What the cooperatives say they would get

The release says the project’s full solar output would be equal to 40 percent of 2024 peak demand, and that the arrangement would save the four cooperatives an estimated total of more than $20 million. It does not say over how many years.

For Empire, the release says the solar and battery storage together would bring in “hundreds of thousands of dollars per year,” money that would go toward infrastructure work and rising energy costs that would otherwise have to be recovered through electric rates.

“Valley Range is a unique project in that it could provide low-risk, long-term revenue that would reduce upward pressure on rates for our members,” Empire General Manager Josh Dellinger said in the release. “The significant revenue from this one project could help fund needed infrastructure improvements without placing the financial burden on our membership.”

The release does not give the price the cooperatives would pay for the power, the length of the contract, or how the output and the savings would be divided among the four.

Empire backs the permit

Dellinger also put the cooperative on record in favor of the county approval the project needs.

“We support Valley Range’s permit and hope that county officials recognize the opportunity for electricity generation and tax revenue for the county,” he said.

Matt Ryan, Accelergen’s development director, said in the release that the electricity used in Montezuma County is now generated elsewhere in Colorado, so other counties collect the tax revenue from producing it. “Valley Range could be a unique opportunity for Montezuma County to both gain tax revenue and generate a large portion of its own electricity,” he said.

According to the release, Valley Range would pay $13.9 million in property tax over the life of the project. The release also says the project has given more than $30,000 to community organizations over two years and has committed to supporting workforce training and education in the county once it is operating. It says the project team has been working in the county for nearly two years.

Where the project stands

The project needs county approval before anything is built. The Journal reported in September that Accelergen was about to submit a special use permit application, that the county Planning and Zoning Commission was expected to review it this fall, likely in mid-November, and that the decision on the permit rests with the Board of County Commissioners.

The Journal described the site as south of the Montezuma County Fairgrounds, between U.S. Highway 160 and County Road H, with solar panels covering about 900 acres.

The project’s website says construction could begin as early as 2028, with commercial operation planned for December 2029, and describes the project as a $251 million investment.

The county told residents in September that commissioners cannot discuss “the latest solar facility proposal” before its public hearing, and that questions and written comments should go to the Planning Department. The notice did not name the project. At an October 5 workshop, commissioners asked that the county’s 500-foot setback for solar arrays be written to cover battery storage as well; that change has not been adopted.

The program behind the deal

Tri-State announced Bring Your Own Resource in 2024. It lets member cooperatives build or contract for their own power projects, alone or together, and sell the output into Tri-State’s system while they remain Tri-State customers. Tri-State said at the time that members could supply up to 40 percent of their own power needs that way.

Empire Electric is a member-owned cooperative that has served southwest Colorado and southeast Utah since 1939.

Written comments on a land use application can be sent to the county Planning Department at planning@co.montezuma.co.us.

Sources: Empire Electric Association news release, October 5, 2026 · Valley Range Energy Park · The Journal · Tri-State announcement, June 2024