North America PV News Snippets

Air Products & AES to build 1.4 GW green hydrogen project; EDF Renewables North America sells 21.6 MW PV to Luminace; State Farm signs PPA for 50 MW with Constellation Energy; Erthos secures 100 MW DC order; Bechtel lands Sabanci Renewables project.

Mega green hydrogen project in Texas: Industrial gases company Air Products and energy company The AES Corporation plan to invest $4 billion to build, own and operate a green hydrogen production facility in Wilbarger County, Texas. It is proposed to be powered by close to 1.4 GW wind and solar power generation to help produce more than 200 metric tons green hydrogen per day. Air Products will be the exclusive offtaker and marketer of green hydrogen produced by the project for 30 years. The duo believe it will make the project the largest green hydrogen facility in the US once it is online in 2027. It is planned to serve the growing demand for zero-carbon intensity fuels for the mobility market and other industrial markets. Air Products is also a project partner for another large scale 4 GW green hydrogen project with ACWA Power and the Saudi Arabian city of NEOM which it will export globally for transportation market (see Green Hydrogen Project Powered By Over 4 GW RE).

21.6 MW DC community solar portfolio changes hands: EDF Renewables North America has sold a 21.6 MW DC portfolio of 3 community solar projects in Maine, US to a Brookfield Renewable company Luminace. All projects were developed by EDF who will provide EPC services as well, while Luminace will be the long-term owner and operator of Overlook Solar project in Bristol, Tower Solar Plant in Embden and Green Mile Solar facility in Woolwich. Once online, these projects will generate close to 27,600 MWh clean energy annually.

US insurance firm signs up for solar: US based Auto and home insurance firm State Farm has entered an agreement with Constellation Energy to purchase power and renewable energy certificates (REC) from 50 MW capacity out of the Swift Current Energy's Double Black Diamond Solar Project in Illinois. Constellation Energy explained that this capacity falls under its long-term agreement with Swift to purchase a portion of energy and REC's generated by the said project. Power purchased will be used by State Farm to electrify its corporate headquarters, operations center and other facilities in Bloomington, III.

Erthos bags over 100 MW DC order: Erthos, Inc has secured an order from Industrial Sun LLC to supply its Earth Mount Solar PV technology for over 100 MW DC capacity, a utility scale project in Austin, Texas. The project is Erthos' largest contract to date and follows a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a separate 107 MW DC project and 14 MW DC of additional signed contracts. As the name suggests, Erthos technology can help install solar modules directly on the earth without the need for structural steel along with an autonomous cleaning robot to clean the array every night (see Erthos Raises $17.5 Million Financing).

Bechtel to build 272 MW DC solar plant in Texas: Bechtel has secured an EPC order from Sabanci Renewables, the renewable energy arm of Turkey's Sabanci Holding, to build a 272 MW DC solar plant in Fort Bend County, Texas. The project will be owned and operated by Sabanci. The project is scheduled to enter construction in Q1/2023 and come online in Q2/2024. Sabanci acquired the project from Advanced Power in October 2022 (see North America PV News Snippets).