Years of collaboration among Northern Colorado communities, Platte River Power Authority, and global energy partners made the region’s largest solar complex possible.
By Blaine Howerton | NorthFortyNews.com
SEVERANCE, Colo. — Years before more than half a million solar panels stretched across 1,700 acres in Weld County, the future of Black Hollow Sun was uncertain.
Platte River Power Authority General Manager and CEO Jason Frisbie remembers receiving a phone call during the turbulent years following the start of negotiations for the project in 2019.
The economics had changed. The project’s then-counterparty was struggling to honor the contract price and, according to Frisbie, offered Platte River roughly $17 million in liquidated damages to walk away.
His response was simple.
“I don’t want your money,” Frisbie recalled telling them.
Platte River needed the power.
“We need to figure out how to do this,” Frisbie said.
On Sept. 30, the result of that decision — and years of work by municipalities, Weld County, the Town of Severance, energy companies, engineers, contractors and skilled tradespeople — surrounded the elected officials and community leaders gathered to celebrate the completion of the Black Hollow Sun Solar Complex.
The two-phase project is now Northern Colorado’s largest solar complex. It has a net capacity of 257 megawatts and 544,740 photovoltaic modules across approximately 1,700 acres, according to Platte River. It is expected to produce about 608 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually — enough to serve the equivalent of approximately 73,000 homes and businesses annually.
But the numbers tell only part of the story.
Four Communities, One Power Authority
Platte River is owned by four Northern Colorado communities: Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland.
That ownership structure means the communities have spent years making major energy decisions together.
“Some of our biggest accomplishments happen when organizations come together around a shared purpose,” said Sharon Israel, Loveland’s director of utilities and vice chair of the Platte River Board of Directors. “Black Hollow Sun is a powerful example of that collaboration.”
Israel said the public-power model is an important part of understanding the project. Unlike an investor-owned utility, Platte River is governed by the communities it serves.
“We own the assets, we own the authority, we make the decisions as the four communities together,” Israel said in an interview with North Forty News.
The collaboration extended beyond the four owners.
Black Hollow Sun is in Weld County near Severance. The project involved Weld County permitting, coordination with the town and surrounding residents, and years of public outreach. Platte River says outreach began in 2021, including meetings with neighboring landowners and a public meeting.
ContourGlobal, which acquired Black Hollow Sun after development was underway, has also worked with Severance, Weld County officials, and residents as the project moved toward completion.
“What I appreciate most about projects like this, it reminds us that the energy transition, it’s not just about technology,” Israel said during the ceremony. “It’s about people. It’s about community leaders willing to work together.”
A Global Partner in Northern Colorado
The project also connects that locally governed public-power system to a much larger international energy business.
ContourGlobal acquired Black Hollow Sun in late 2024 and early 2025 after the project had been developed by predecessors including 174 Power Global, Hanwha Renewables and Qcells. Phase I became ContourGlobal’s first operating renewable-energy plant in the United States in 2025.
Today, ContourGlobal reports approximately 2.7 gigawatts of U.S. power-generation capacity in operation or under construction, with thermal plants in California, New Mexico and Texas and a growing renewable portfolio across several states.
At peak construction, Black Hollow Sun employed nearly 700 workers, according to ContourGlobal officials speaking at Wednesday’s ceremony.
Qcells served as a major construction and equipment partner, supplying solar modules for the project, including panels assembled at its U.S. facilities. ContourGlobal says the complex uses a U.S.-based construction and equipment supply chain and more than 500,000 Qcells modules.
ContourGlobal General Manager for the U.S., Javier Alvarez Canedo, said the company views the United States as a core market and Black Hollow Sun as an important part of its long-term presence here.
He also credited Severance and the surrounding community for helping the company complete the project.
“We are very thankful to our friends from the Town of Severance, as well as all the local stakeholders and local community, for your help and support from the very first days of this project,” Alvarez Canedo said.
Staying With the Project
The path from the original concept to Wednesday’s celebration was anything but straightforward.
Platte River announced the original Black Hollow Sun proposal in 2021 after selecting 174 Power Global to develop what was then planned as a 150-megawatt project. Electricity would be delivered through a new substation adjacent to Platte River’s existing transmission system.
Then came pandemic-era disruptions, changing project economics and years of negotiations.
Frisbie said there were moments when the project appeared increasingly difficult to complete.
Rather than accept the roughly $17 million exit payment he recalls being offered, Platte River continued working through the project.
“I don’t think these things are gonna get cheaper in the future,” Frisbie recalled thinking at the time. “We will regret not moving forward.”
He said that decision looks increasingly significant today as other public utilities encounter substantially higher prices for new solar resources.
“The decision that we made back then to move forward will serve us well for the next 20 years,” Frisbie said.
He repeatedly credited employees, elected officials, community leaders, and project partners, rather than any single organization, with getting Black Hollow Sun across the finish line.
“You can’t pull off something like this without just dedication and commitment,” he said.
Built to Connect — and Expand
Black Hollow Sun required more than solar panels.
Platte River constructed a dedicated substation and transmission infrastructure near the complex to bring its electricity directly onto the public power system.
The Severance Substation was designed to interconnect the solar project with Platte River’s transmission network, placing the generation close to the communities that will use it. The infrastructure can also accommodate additional generation resources in the future.
That direct connection is important to Frisbie.
“This isn’t some project in western Kansas or somewhere,” he said. “Our engineers went to work to build a substation. We had to build a transmission line.”
And Black Hollow Sun is already being joined by another major resource.
Platte River is developing the 100-megawatt Weld Energy Storage Project near the solar complex as part of a broader expansion of battery storage. The utility also plans 5-megawatt battery installations in each of its four owner communities.
Designed for Northern Colorado Weather
The scale of Black Hollow Sun becomes particularly apparent away from the ceremony.
Rows of panels extend across the landscape, but the arrays are not static.
During an on-site tour, engineers told North Forty News that four full-time staff members monitor the facility and changing weather conditions, including two of Northern Colorado’s most damaging threats: hail and high winds.
The tracking system can change the position of the panels as conditions change. During hail events, engineers said panels can be tilted to approximately 60 degrees to reduce exposure to direct impacts. The system is designed to withstand winds up to 101 mph.
Platte River identifies the equipment as a single-axis tracking system, allowing the panels to change position rather than remain fixed.
More Than a Finish Line
For Platte River’s four owner communities, completion of Black Hollow Sun is part of a much larger change in how Northern Colorado generates electricity.
Platte River plans to retire Craig Unit 2 in 2028 and Rawhide Unit 1 in 2029 while adding renewable generation, battery storage, transmission improvements and other resources.
Frisbie said the goal is not simply adding renewable energy.
Reliability, affordability and environmental responsibility all have to remain part of the equation.
“They’re all important,” he said. “The environment’s important. Reliability is important. Affordability is important. We’re trying to balance all of these things as we move forward.”
Platte River is also taking that transition into homes and businesses through programs involving smart thermostats, electric vehicles, and other devices. Through its developing virtual power plant initiative, thousands of individual devices could eventually be coordinated as a larger grid resource.
Israel pointed residents to PRPA.org/progress for information about that work. Platte River says its Efficiency Works Flex initiative will combine technologies including smart thermostats and managed electric-vehicle charging to help manage electricity demand.
For Israel, however, Wednesday’s milestone ultimately came back to the partnership that made Black Hollow Sun possible.
“This accomplishment reflects the power of partnership, of persistence, and a shared commitment to our region’s energy future,” she said.
Seven years after the earliest work that led to Black Hollow Sun — and after an offer to walk away with millions of dollars — hundreds of thousands of solar panels are now producing electricity in Weld County.
The money wasn’t what Platte River wanted.
The power was.
Attribution: North Forty News reporting from the Sept. 30, 2026, Black Hollow Sun Solar Complex completion event and site tour; interviews and remarks from Sharon Israel, Jason Frisbie, Javier Alvarez Canedo, and project representatives; project materials provided at the event; Platte River Power Authority; ContourGlobal.