Intersect Power has commissioned 310 MW DC solar plant with 448 MWh storage; Ørsted takes FID for 471 MW Texas facility; Clearway switches on Hawaiian project; Westbridge adds 94 MW to Sunnybrook Solar Farm; Southern Current & Dominion Energy enter solar PPA.
310 MW DC solar plant online in California: Clean energy company Intersect Power has switched on its Athos III Solar Project in Riverside County, California with 310 MW DC/224 MW AC PV capacity and 448 MWh of co-located storage. It uses American-made solar panels, batteries, and steel pipes complying with the requirements of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Ørsted moves forward with 471 MW solar project: Denmark's Ørsted has taken the final investment decision (FID) on the largest solar PV project in its portfolio to date, the 471 MW AC Mockingbird Solar Center in Texas. The project will be sited on 4,900 acres with construction planned to begin in January 2023. Once it achieves commercial operations in 2024, it is expected to generate enough clean energy to power more than 80,000 homes annually. It will donate almost 1,000 acres of land adjacent to the center to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to protect native prairie in north-east Texas. Ørsted said this will be the largest preservation effort on record for this type of native prairie since less than 5% of these original tallgrass prairies survive nationally today. The project is contracted by Royal DSM to purchase power from the project.
Clearway completes Hawaiian solar project: Renewable energy operator Clearway Energy Group has commissioned 36 MW solar farm with 144 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Hawaii. Located on Kamehameha Schools' lands in Waiawa in Central O'ahu, the project is Clearway's 2nd utility-scale solar and battery project, and the 5th utility-scale PV plant to have been developed on the island. The solar power station was built for an investment of $150 million. "The solar farm generates clean electricity at about half the cost of fossil fuels and feeds the entire O'ahu grid, benefiting all island ratepayers," stated Clearway. It adds up the company's 5 solar projects connected to the Hawaiian Electric's grid to 185 MW.
Canadian PV project to expand by 94 MW: Canada based utility scale solar PV developer Westbridge Renewable Energy Corp. is expanding its Sunnybrook Solar Plant in Canada's Alberta by 94 MW, to increase the existing capacity from 236 MW to 330 MW. The project has advanced to stage 3 of the Alberta Electric System Operator ((AESO) interconnection process, the company stated. Its current project pipeline adds up to 1.3799 GW solar PV and 553 MW/1,106 BESS.
PPA for 108 MW DC solar & storage project: Part of independent clean energy group energyRe, Southern Current has entered a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Dominion Energy South Carolina (DESC) for 107.8 MW DC Lone Star Solar Plant with 198 MWh BESS in South Carolina. The Calhoun County project is scheduled to come online in 2024 and will be one of the largest battery systems in the Carolinas and the largest battery on DESC network. Southern Current says the project will be one of the largest solar and storage facilities in the Southeastern US and will represent close to $200 million investment.