{"id":83343,"date":"2025-08-27T17:16:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83343"},"modified":"2025-08-27T17:16:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:16:25","slug":"first-us-floating-solar-tracker-pilot-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83343","title":{"rendered":"The first US floating solar tracker pilot kicks off in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image\">\n\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/noria.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"US floating solar tracker\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/noria.jpg?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/noria.jpg?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/noria.jpg?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/noria.jpg?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\tPhoto: Noria\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Colorado is about to see the US\u2019s first floating solar tracker project hit the water.<\/p>\n<p>Noria Energy has started construction on Aurea Solar, a 50 kW floating solar pilot in Golden, Colorado, that will use trackers. The project will power local water utility operations at the Fairmount Reservoir, which is owned and operated by the Consolidated Mutual Water Company (CMWC).<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-431672\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The system is built with Noria\u2019s new floating solar tracker technology, AquaPhi. Unlike conventional floating solar arrays, which are static, AquaPhi rotates the solar islands so the panels follow the sun. That tracking ability boosts energy output by 10-20%. AquaPhi can be added to new projects or retrofitted onto existing floating solar sites to improve performance.<\/p>\n<p>Floating solar is gaining attention as a cost-effective way to generate renewable energy while saving space. For water utilities, the benefits are twofold: generating clean power on existing reservoirs and reducing water loss through evaporation.<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\">Advertisement &#8211; scroll for more content<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Golden pilot is the first in the US to use high-performance solar tracking on water, giving a glimpse of how reservoirs nationwide could double as energy producers. At Fairmount Reservoir, the array will power onsite pumps that regulate water supply for the utility\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[This project is an exciting opportunity to] not only produce and conserve energy, but also to improve our water supply by reducing how much is lost to evaporation,\u201d said Jarod Roberts, CMWC\u2019s chief of water resources.<\/p>\n<p>Noria is working with GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit that provides renewable energy access and workforce training, and Hazelett Marine, which supplies mooring solutions for floating solar systems.<\/p>\n<p>The 50 kW project is scheduled to come online in September 2025, when it will support CMWC\u2019s mission to deliver clean, safe, and reliable water to more than 100,000 customers in the greater Denver area,\u00a0while demonstrating the potential for floating solar tracking across the country.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/2025\/08\/26\/eia-solar-wind-leave-coal-in-the-dust-with-record-2025-output\/\">EIA: Solar and wind leave coal in the dust with record 2025 output<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.energysage.com\/landing\/home-solar\/p\/electrek-rsm-ml\/?utm_medium=Partner&amp;utm_source=Electrek\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_Resiliency_748036.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-431678\" srcset=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_Resiliency_748036.png 750w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_Resiliency_748036.png?resize=150,30 150w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_Resiliency_748036.png?resize=300,60 300w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_Resiliency_748036.png?resize=350,70 350w, https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_Resiliency_748036.png?resize=140,28 140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p><strong><em>The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you\u2019ve ever considered going solar, now\u2019s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/c32b704.na1.hs-sales-engage.com\/Ctc\/P+23284\/c32B704\/JlF3crJ5W8wLKSR6lZ3p-W7s8QC84nlPDsW35x5rq5vFtfyW88cj9v1vtBqZVbfGXn1xzh51W8jvN5t8yhpLdW57_shc5Rp3MdMN0T8GbTR9LW5kbjcl41XSlfW1DWv0v4vFzCtW8zy2kd45l-lnW8TNZ_52QnSx-W54zS-f2SKtm5W5WK2df426XsKV7j3fd6CkxT7W7x6GCb20V3brW6qqHST3bthfYW6CpFKd7_yQ0XW2ysWt869bCphW6r8YtG4GrsVkW46V-MQ5bp2VwW5m6Bnn8b0H0_VsQ6Xw673G4GW2FfPnr6RDKb7W7dQjKN7Mqbk0W2D2_x791FrC9W84mN5P1JPzsPW5Ymmh58m7YHdW2RdHWF257Zzhf4hJ8JP04\"><strong><em>EnergySage<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it\u2019s free to use, and you won\u2019t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you\u2019ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/c32b704.na1.hs-sales-engage.com\/Ctc\/P+23284\/c32B704\/JlF3crJ5W8wLKSR6lZ3p-W7s8QC84nlPDsW35x5rq5vFtfyW88cj9v1vtBqZVbfGXn1xzh51W8jvN5t8yhpLdW57_shc5Rp3MdMN0T8GbTR9LW5kbjcl41XSlfW1DWv0v4vFzCtW8zy2kd45l-lnW8TNZ_52QnSx-W54zS-f2SKtm5W5WK2df426XsKV7j3fd6CkxT7W7x6GCb20V3brW6qqHST3bthfYW6CpFKd7_yQ0XW2ysWt869bCphW6r8YtG4GrsVkW46V-MQ5bp2VwW5m6Bnn8b0H0_VsQ6Xw673G4GW2FfPnr6RDKb7W7dQjKN7Mqbk0W2D2_x791FrC9W84mN5P1JPzsPW5Ymmh58m7YHdW2RdHWF257Zzhf4hJ8JP04\"><strong><em>Get started here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-disclaimer-container\" readability=\"6.3518518518519\">\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\"><em>FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/about\/#affiliate\">More.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- post ad --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo: Noria Colorado is about to see the US\u2019s first floating solar tracker project hit the water. Noria Energy has started construction on Aurea Solar, a 50 kW floating solar pilot in Golden, Colorado, that will use trackers. The project will power local water utility operations at the Fairmount Reservoir, which is owned and operated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}