The U.S. Department of Energy has canceled a call for bids on a solar-powered electric generating system atop 2.5 million cubic yards of radioactive mill tailings in Bodo Canyon.
In a statement, the department said it plans to refine the solicitation and terms of lease and issue a new call for bids in March.
“We saw from responses that the solicitation may not have been as clear as we wanted,” Deborah Barr, the DOE reuse program manager in Grand Junction, said Friday.
Some bidders overlooked certain minimum bid criteria, Barr said. Refining and reissuing the solicitation, she said, should provide a clearer structure.
“We don’t want someone not to bid because there was something they weren’t sure about,” Barr said.
Jordan House, the principal and CEO of Durango-based Four Corners Solar, said the Department of Energy decision was well taken.
“This is the first project of its kind for the DOE,” House said. “It’s worthwhile to make sure it starts right because it could be a model for the future.”
House, whose firm has done solar projects at the Durango-La Plata County Airport and Fort Lewis College, said the Bodo Canyon project has unique challenges, such as needing to ensure the installation doesn’t impair the integrity of the tailings burial cell.
But he said his company isn’t daunted.
“We intend to enter a bid,” House said.
Sixteen potential bidders on Nov. 16 toured the site where the DOE wants someone to install photovoltaic collectors to produce up to 4.5 megawatts of power – enough to power 1,000 homes.
The Bodo Canyon site contains radioactive waste from the milling of uranium in Durango for all but three years from 1942 to 1963.
The site is 3.5 miles southwest of Durango. It covers 120 acres, of which 42 acres contains the cell. The waste is covered with 7 feet of protective materials.
Maximum development of a solar-energy project would use 21 acres.
The DOE’s Office of Legacy Management oversees 87 sites like Bodo Canyon, but the Durango project is the first of its kind for the agency.
No DOE money – grants, loans or participation – will be involved in the Bodo project, which involves a 20-year lease. The winning bidder must reach a power-purchase agreement with La Plata Electric Association.
LPEA estimates the cost of modifying its Bodo substation and running a line to the photovoltaic array at $500,000.
