Being built by solar energy services provider SunEdison on an abandoned gas and oil field in North America, the power plant will provide power to Southern California Edison through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The 737-acre 82MW DC solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant will feature over 248,000 SunEdison mono-crystalline solar PV modules.
The plant can reduce CO2 emissions equivalent to not burning 125 million pounds of coal annually.
SunEdison has developed, designed and executed the structured financing for the Regulus project, which is slated to commence operations later in 2014.
The power plant is expected to create 600 jobs. The term financing for the project was provided by Prudential Capital Group and Santander Bank.
SunEdison North America president Bob Powell said: "From developing the technology, to constructing the facility, to establishing mutually beneficial financial partnerships with leaders like Google, Prudential and Santander Bank, N.A., Regulus is a prime example of how SunEdison’s end-to-end approach benefits everyone involved in a solar project."
Google renewable energy principal Nick Coons said: "This project with SunEdison presented an opportunity to take an old gas and oil field and turn it into a clean energy producing solar site. It made sense to support it on multiple levels."
Google has signed agreements to fund over $1.5bn in renewable energy investments, with a total planned capacity of more than 2.5GW, across three continents.
Image: Google agreed to fund over $1.5bn in renewable energy investments with a total planned capacity of more than 2.5G. Photo: courtesy of Naypong/Freedigitalphotos.net.
