Construction is expected to begin immediately and it is hoped commercial operations will start by the middle of next year. The California Public Utilities Commission has reportedly approved the 20-year power purchase agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric.
When operating at full capacity, the three Avenal solar projects – Avenal Park, Sun City and Sand Drag are expected to generate a total of 45 megawatts (MW). Construction financing has been completed on all of the projects, say the companies. They added that full notice has been given to proceed on Sun City (20 MW) and Sand Drag (19 MW) to the Ryan Company, Inc., the engineering, procurement and contracting firm in charge of construction.
The companies went on to say that Avenal will be built with thin film solar panels provided by Sharp Electronics. The projects are also expected to bring "much-needed" jobs to an "economically distressed" area.
"The Avenal projects are just the first of many utility-scale PV solar projects that we expect to be developing, building and owning in the State of California. We are very pleased to be adding these solar power projects to our portfolio of wind projects helping California reach its nation-leading goals to increase the utilization of emission-free power generation," said Mark E. Anderson, president and CEO of Eurus Energy America.
The Avenal projects, located in Kings County, CA, were developed by Eurus and are owned jointly by Eurus and NRG.
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