Montana solar project Dillon Enlight Renewable Energy - Billings Gazette

Montana solar project Dillon Enlight Renewable Energy

An 80-megawatt solar array in southwest Montana is now operating, roughly doubling the amount of commercial solar energy in the state.

Enlight Renewable Energy announced Friday that its 600-acre Apex Solar project located along I-15 near Dillon had been generating electricity since Aug. 4. The project was developed over several years by Clenera, a Boise-based company that Enlight acquired in 2021.

The power generated in a year by Apex is equal to the consumption of 13,500 households, Enlight estimates. The project was built as a qualifying facility under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA. The 40-year old federal law requires regulated utilities to offer long-term contracts and a negotiated price, based on the utility’s avoided cost, meaning whatever it would cost the utility to buy the power from another source, or produce the energy itself, minus expenses for maintenance and operation.

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PURPA projects provide energy from alternative sources, including waste coal, petroleum coke, solar, wind and some hydroelectricity.

NorthWestern Energy, Montana’s largest monopoly utility, will draw power from Apex for 20 years. The utility has been sues several times over the years by project developers seeking contracts under PURPA terms.

Qualifying facilities are limited in output with 80 megawatts being the maximum allowed. The output of Apex matches that of MTSUN, a Billings-area solar project located west of Alkali Creek Road.

A third, 80-megawatt solar project to be located near Trident is seeking a contract with NorthWestern Energy under PURPA. Trident would be the first utility-scale renewable energy project in Montana with battery storage.