RIDGWAY – When the San Miguel Power Association issued a request for renewable energy projects last March, they certainly got what they asked for when they received proposals for approximately 20 projects.

The request for proposals on new renewable energy projects was issued in early March and by the April 22 deadline, SMPA Renewable Energy Technician Brad Zaporski said the rural power-providing cooperative had around 20 proposals in hand.

“People are itching to get these projects off the ground,” Zaporski said on Tuesday.

In its request, SMPA asked for proposals on the design and construction of renewable energy projects to be located within the co-op’s service territory. They plan to accept two groups of proposals for projects sized 50 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts and 500 kilowatts to 2 megawatts.

“San Miguel Power is interested in exploring opportunities to develop renewable energy in our own backyard,” stated SMPA General Manager Kevin Ritter in the request. “We're asking our members to put their passion for renewable energy to work. We're looking for practical, economical, and safe projects that will add local renewable power to our energy mix.”

While no timeline as been set for selection and construction of the proposed projects, Zaporski said SMPA staff are reviewing the proposals and will present a matrix of them to the SMPA board of directors at its next meeting, which will be held at 9 a.m., Friday, May 20 at SMPA’s Nucla office.