Launch event marks CEC's 22nd community solar facility and sixth Colorado utility partner.

CRAIG, COLO. – (February 9, 2015) Clean Energy Collective (CEC), the nation's leading community solar provider, and Yampa Valley Electric Association (YVEA) marked the grand opening of the 579 kW YVEA Community Solar Array to serve electricity ratepayers in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Colorado leads the country in community-owned solar capacity, and now more than 75% of the state's ratepayers have access to solar ownership through the community solar model.

"It pleases me to be associated with a new energy project in the Yampa Valley," Craig mayor Terri Carwile said during the ceremony. "It's important for us to plan for the future. This is a small step of progress to a new age."

The array is located on a 4.58 acre site on the outskirts of Craig, Colo., with the Craig Station coal powered electric plant, Colorado's second largest, in the background. For the first time, locally-produced clean power is available to all YVEA members, including residential, commercial, renters, nonprofit, and municipal ratepayers. The facility is projected to produce approximately 924,373 kilowatt-hours of clean energy per year, enough to power about 150 homes. Over its lifespan, the environmental benefits equate to a reduction of 69 million pounds of CO2 emissions, removing 78 million car miles, or the absorption power of 106,000 trees.

YVEA general manager Diane Johnson remarked that the YVEA board agreed solar energy needs to be an option for its customers. "We think it makes perfect sense to be diverse in terms of our energy sources," she said. YVEA's 7,000 square mile service territory includes the communities of Craig, Hayden, Steamboat Springs, and Yampa, Colo., as well as Baggs and Savery, Wyo.

The event marked the inauguration of CEC's 22nd community solar facility, its 15th in Colorado, and recognized YVEA as one of eight utility partners in the state.

About Clean Energy Collective
Clean Energy Collective (CEC) is the nation's leading developer of community solar solutions. CEC pioneered the model of delivering clean power-generation through large-scale solar PV facilities accessible to all utility customers. Since establishing the first community-owned solar garden in the country in 2010 near El Jebel, Colorado, CEC has built or has under development more than 49 community solar projects with 19 utility partners across 8 states, representing over 37 MW of community solar capacity. www.easycleanenergy.com