MidAmerican Solar, a subsidiary of MidAmerican Renewables, announces its acquisition of the 579-MW Antelope Valley Solar Projects (AVSP), two co-located projects in Kern and Los Angeles counties in California, U.S., from SunPower Corp. The two combined projects will form the largest permitted solar photovoltaic power development in the world and will create an estimated 650 jobs during construction.
The AVSP will provide renewable energy to Southern California Edison (SCE) under two long-term power purchase contracts approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.
SunPower developed the co-located AVSP over the last four years. At the 3,230-acre (1,307-hectare) site, SunPower will install the SunPower Oasis Power Plant product, fully integrated, modular solar technology that is engineered to rapidly deploy utility-scale solar projects while minimizing land use. The Oasis product uses high-efficiency SunPower solar panels mounted on SunPower T0 Trackers, which position the panels to track the sun during the day, increasing energy capture by up to 25%. In addition, SunPower will be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and will operate and maintain the facility via a multiyear services agreement. Construction of the solar project is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2013, with the plants expected to be complete by year-end 2015.
AVSP has secured final conditional use permits and has completed full environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.
According to estimates provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the project is expected to offset more than 775,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which is equivalent to removing almost 3 million cars from California's highways over 20 years of the plant's operation.
Visit www.midamericanrenewablesllc.com and www.sunpowercorp.com.
