Neighbors weigh impacts on views, businesses and safety as developer outlines potential benefits
Anna Watson
Sunday, Oct 11, 2026 5:00 AM MT
A proposal for a utility-scale solar and battery storage project about five miles east of Cortez and south of U.S. Highway 160 has drawn opposition from some nearby residents and business owners, while others close by say they support the development.
Members of the group NoValleyRange say the project’s location and scale could alter the scenery near Mesa Verde National Park and hurt property values, tourism and surrounding business operations. They also question the safety of the proposed battery energy storage system.
Supporters, including other homeowners, say the proposed Valley Range Energy Park would bring benefits to the community and that the developer, Accelergen Energy, has responded to their concerns.
Accelergen is applying for a high-impact and special-use permit from Montezuma County to build a 125-megawatt solar energy generation facility. The designs include 900 acres of panels and a 62.5-megawatt battery energy storage system on the project site’s northwest corner.
The proposed site lies south of the Montezuma County Fairgrounds in a tract of high-desert terrain between U.S. 160 and County Road H. It would be about three miles northwest of Mesa Verde, according to an estimate from Accelergen project developer Matt Ryan.
County Road H residents Bryan and Joanne Davis, a married couple who co-own and operate the Dolly Wampus Chocolate Factory south of the proposed site, are leading the opposition group NoValleyRange and manage its website. Brandi and Kent Atkinson, who own and operate Bright Star Campground and reside on Road H, also participate in the group.
They said the group consists of residents from two nearby neighborhoods and has launched a petition that garnered a significant number of signatures from the larger Cortez community. The group has also organized neighborhood meetings, attended town halls and plans to attend upcoming public hearings.
“We are sheep farmers, chocolate shop owners, campground owners, retirees and ordinary folks. NoValleyRange is not a partisan group, our members span the political spectrum. However, we are united in our effort to stop this project,” a NoValleyRange statement reads.
Bryan Davis said while nearby residents and businesses fear the project could decrease home values or put adjacent businesses at risk, its proximity to Mesa Verde is a primary concern.
He said the solar array would impede views from overlooks on the park’s north side in a way that harms the visitor experience. The group describes Mesa Verde, home to a well-preserved concentration of Ancestral Pueblo dwellings, as “a cultural treasure” that drives the local economy through tourism.
“The giant scale of the solar facility, given the location, is the number one issue,” Davis said.
National Park Service officials from Mesa Verde have not responded to a request for comment despite phone and email requests to the news media office and superintendent Amanda McCutcheon.
Brandi Atkinson said unobstructed views of the La Plata Mountains, Sleeping Ute Mountain and Mesa Verde draw campers to Bright Star, at 30261 County Road H. She said guests come for vacationing and to host retreats, school activities, weddings and other events.
She said she worries construction would disrupt the experience and threaten their ability to continue operating.
“Our business would be completely gone,” she said. “We wouldn’t survive the construction.”
The developers say they acknowledge onlookers would be able to see the solar installation from Mesa Verde overlooks, but say it doesn’t damage the view because visitors already look over the city of Cortez.
Ryan said he initiated meetings with neighbors starting in December 2025. Several voiced concerns about proximity, the visual impact, noise and dust and in response he said he shifted the project layout further east, creating 1,500- to 2,000-foot setbacks for the Cielo Bonito Ranches.
“We weren’t able to make as many concessions for the neighbors further south,” he said.
For residents sharing a property line or living within 1,000 feet of the solar panels, Ryan said Accelergen is negotiating formal agreements that cover up to $75,000 of the difference if a neighbor decides to sell their property but cannot receive fair market value if determined by an independent assessor.
He said those draft agreements were sent to the Bright Star Campground, the Desert Mesa Estates nearby subdivision, Crooked Sky Ranch, and a fourth resident whose home sits at the end of County Road H on the elevated butte, giving him a bird’s-eye view of the solar installation.
“I hope everyone understands I am not trying to stiff-arm anyone and ignore what they’re saying. These projects are planned years in advance so they can take into account different considerations,” Ryan said.
Other property owners nearby support the proposal.
Eve O’Neill and Richard Garrard own two properties in the Cielo Bonito subdivision, including one that would share a fence with the project. O’Neill said they have no affiliation with Accelergen but began participating in its public outreach campaign after the project was announced.
Garrard said his support for solar stems from his career, which was with the Department of Veterans Affairs before he retired. His last project involved a traumatic brain injury center for veterans returning from Iraq, an experience that shaped his views on the human costs of war and a national dependence on oil.
“Here we are: in another war for oil. No one is talking about the soldiers, no one is talking about global warming and how it causes fires that kill our firefighters and wipe out our water,” Garrard said.
He said those experiences lead him to support renewable energy projects such as Valley Range.
“We believe that it’s important everybody do what they can to take care of the problems that we’re creating,” Garrard said.
O’Neill said early on, they raised concerns with Accelergen about lighting and the project’s effects on the area’s dark skies when the developer initially proposed motion-detected lights.
After they questioned whether wind would repeatedly activate them, Accelergen agreed to use light switches instead, she said.
“They have been very responsive to our concerns,” O’Neill said.
Valley Range is seeking a permit with Montezuma County, and Accelergen submitted the application in early September. The planning department is reviewing the 21-sectioned proposal, said county attorney Stephen Tarnowski.
Tarnowski said if the application moves forward, a review will be scheduled before the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the full proposal will be available to the public through the county’s Public Notices portal.
The planning commission makes a recommendation of approval or denial to the county commissioners. An application recommended for approval moves to the commissioners for review. If the planning commission recommends denial, Accelergen can still petition for a hearing before the commissioners, Tarnowski said.
Both the planning commission and commissioners’ hearings would involve public comment. Tarnowski said the planning department is expected to present a procedures resolution to the commissioners next week to clarify the process.
“Most pertinently, their intent is to create a public comment opportunity through the planning portal on the county website, and allow the public to submit written comments there up to seven days before a hearing,” Tarnowski wrote in an email.
If implemented, no written comments would be accepted at the hearings, he said. Verbal comments would follow the same format as typical board meetings.
The commissioners consider the application, staff reports, planning commission recommendations, applicable regulations and public testimony as part of the official hearing process, according to the county.
Accelergen says the project would power 50,000 homes. Locally, the developers also say it would bring additional electricity for local cooperatives and annual tax revenue for schools, the county and other entities designated in the site’s tax district. The project’s capital expenditures budget, meaning the amount the company invests, ranges from $240 to $300 million, according to Ryan.
Empire Electric Association and three other cooperatives signed a letter of intent to purchase power from the project if it receives county permitting approval, according to a Monday, Oct. 5, joint news release.
In follow-up answers from Accelergen and Empire, they stated a power purchase agreement is being negotiated.
The other cooperatives are Gunnison County Electric Association, San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative and San Miguel Power Association.
The cooperatives plan to purchase 96.5 megawatts of the project’s expected 125-megawatt capacity, with Empire’s share totaling 39 megawatts, according to the follow-up statement. Accelergen said it hopes to sell the remaining 28.5 megawatts to another local utility, but a buyer has not been identified.
The battery storage system is a valuable asset, allowing grid stability and for power to stored until periods of high demand then sold to Tri-State Generation and Transmission at a markup.
EEA Valley Range News Release 10.5.pdf (Download PDF)
EEA Valley Range News Release 10.5.pdf
Empire said it intends to purchase a share of the power supplied by the solar and a share of the battery storage capacity and sell both at a markup. Empire said the revenue generated from the project would slow rate increases for its members and allow for long-term infrastructure upgrades through generating a source of revenue other than from its members.
Examples provided by the utility include replacing aging substations and repairing utility lines in high-risk areas for fire.
Commissioners of Wyandotte County in Kansas City, Kansas, in May approved a special use permit for battery storage facility by Accelergen, with a $250 million capital expenditures budget, which is for the energy storage component and does not include solar panels, according to reporting from the Kansas City Star.
Both Davis and Atkinson raise concerns about the battery energy storage system, commonly referred to as BESS. They fear a battery failure could lead to a dangerous fire that’s difficult to suppress.
Davis pointed to fires elsewhere, including the fire at California’s Moss Landing Power Plant, as a reason for scrutiny.
A January 2025 fire at the Vistra Corp-owned battery storage facility damaged about 55% of its batteries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than 1,300 residents were evacuated.
The EPA is overseeing the lithium-ion battery removal from the Moss Landing site, stating battery fires can release harmful gases that pose health risks. The damaged lithium-ion batteries also pose an ongoing risk of fire and more flames ignited 1,300 damaged battery modules at the Moss Landing site Sept. 18.
Davis, who previously lived near Moss Landing, said he fears a fire of the Moss Landing magnitude would devastate the county, contending the widespread, resulting news coverage would discourage tourists from coming to Montezuma County and hurt businesses.
Emily King Kinsey, a Valley Range representative, said Moss Landing is not a comparable example because of differences in battery chemistry and facility design. The proposed battery storage containers would take up an acre, with the overall fencing and access roads for the entire BESS site spanning roughly 10 acres, according to the project developer Ryan.
King Kinsey said the proposed Valley Range battery system would use lithium-iron phosphate batteries, which she described as more stable than the nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry used at Moss Landing.
The EPA states lithium battery fires across facilities have raised legitimate safety questions for communities. Those incidents raise important questions for installation and management guidance, the agency states, such as for considerations for fire suppression and first responders’ safety, emissions and the environmental impact within proper cleanup if an incident were to occur.
The agency also notes despite recent high-profile incidents, improvements in battery storage quality and design standards that have led to a decrease in the number of failures for the rate they are deployed.
The Electric Power Research Institute tracks BESS failures and the root cause, where available.
Davis said he asked the commissioners during a town hall Monday to consider a moratorium on BESS until the failure rate is lower for any project’s total lifespan.
Roy Wilkinson, fire chief for Cortez Fire Protection District, said the department is evaluating the potential hazards and associated risks of a BESS, including the likelihood and potential consequences of incidents that could impact emergency response operations or public safety.
“Our review is intended to provide a better understanding of the risks associated with the proposed system and to identify appropriate prevention, mitigation, and emergency response considerations,” he said.
Ryan said Accelergen submitted a draft of an emergency response plan to Wilkinson around a month ago.
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Event will benefit Montezuma School to Farm Project and Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado
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