EDP Renewables SA, through its fully owned subsidiary EDP Renewables North America LLC, and Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) have executed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for 100 MW for the Sandrini Sol 1 Solar Park in Kern County, Calif.
Located near Bakersfield, the 100 MW Sandrini Sol 1 Solar Park is expected to be operational in 2022 and represents an estimated capital investment of more than $100 million. The project will bring economic benefits to Californians by way of payments to local landowners and governments, job opportunities during construction and operations, and an increase in money spent at local businesses in the vicinity of the solar park.
“The state has set a target for a 100% clean and renewable electricity mix by 2045, and RCEA has established the ambitious objective of hitting that target 20 years early, in 2025,” says Matthew Marshall, executive director at RCEA.
“By providing enough affordable, renewable energy to meet almost half of our customers’ current electricity needs, the Sandrini Sol project is a major step toward achieving our local energy and climate goals,” he adds.
As the solar park’s only off taker through the long-term PPA, RCEA will receive 100% of the project output. RCEA is a community choice aggregator serving more than 60,000 customers in Humboldt County. This project will generate enough electricity to meet approximately 45% of RCEA customers’ demand. Sandrini Sol 1 will complement the several local solar projects that are also under development, including RCEA’s 2.5 MW solar and storage microgrid project at the Redwood Coast Airport as well as PPAs for another 3 MW of local solar projects that were recently approved through RCEA’s feed-in-tariff program.
Photo: RCEA’s Community Choice web page