A major project south of Boise will be the first test to see if sunny southern Idaho gets enough rays to make solar energy viable.
Row after row of solar panels have popped up - green energy replacing the old green fields of the rural lands between Kuna and Boise. It’s the Boise City Solar Project, the first of several private energy projects utilizing solar energy. Once finished, it will be the largest solar farm in Idaho with peak production of 40 megawatts.
That's only a drop in the bucket of Idaho power's total peak demand - some 3,400 megawatts. But it's the start of a new wave of renewable energy in the gem state.
"We’re definitely seeing more projects come onto our system,” said Idaho Power spokesman Brad Bowlin. “The Boise City Solar Project would be the first of fifteen solar projects we currently have contracts with."
When complete the project will join more than 100 private energy projects Idaho Power taps into to diversify our grid. Crews are in the final stretch of the project and hope to have it online sometime in May.
