Duke Energy Renewables Acquires Three California Solar Projects

Duke Energy Renewables has acquired three solar power projects from SunPower Corp. totaling 55 MW.

The sites include the 20-MW Rio Bravo I, the 20-MW Rio Bravo II, and the 15-MW Wildwood Solar II solar power plants. They are located in Kern County, California, adjacent to two existing solar sites owned by Duke Energy Renewables.

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These solar projects are excellent facilities that increase our solar presence in California by 50 percent. As we continue to grow our footprint in the state, we're pleased to provide cost-efficient, sustainable power systems that contribute to California's leadership in renewable energy.

— Rob Caldwell, president, Duke Energy Renewables and Distributed Energy Technology

The acquisition was completed in late December, the same month the facilities were placed in service. Southern California Edison is purchasing the power generated by the plants under 20-year agreements.

"Forward-thinking utilities today are diversifying their energy portfolio with increasing amounts of solar capacity," said Ty Daul, SunPower senior vice president, Americas Power Plants. "We are proud to partner with Duke Energy to serve more California customers with affordable, emission free solar power generated from these facilities."

The sites consist of high-efficiency SunPower solar panels. More than 2,600 MW of solar power plants worldwide are using SunPower's leading solar technology.

In an additional growth initiative in California, Duke Energy Renewables has also just completed its 20-MW Longboat Solar Power Project in San Bernardino County, California, which was acquired from EDF Renewable Energy and announced in March of 2016.

The following is a summary of Duke Energy Renewables' California solar projects acquired and completed in 2016:

Project name Location	In service date	Size (AC)	Number PV Panels	Customer
Rio Bravo I Kern County	Dec. 2016	20 MW	59,770	Southern California Edison
Rio Bravo II Kern County	Dec. 2016	20 MW	59,770	Southern California Edison
Wildwood II Kern County	Dec. 2016	15 MW	48,200	Southern California Edison
Longboat San Bernardino County	Dec. 2016	20 MW	84,000	Southern California Edison

In addition, Duke Energy Renewables has six other solar power projects, totaling 111 MW, which began operations in California between December 2010 and Dec 2015.