The solar project will increase Ørsted's operational solar PV capacity to 647MW and strengthens its footprint through new partnership with TVA
Ørsted completes Muscle Shoals solar project. (Credit: Ørsted A/S.)
Ørsted has completed the construction at 227MW Muscle Shoals solar PV project in Colbert County, Alabama, expanding its solar footprint across the US.
Acquired from Longroad Energy in 2020, the solar project will support the Facebook’s data centre in Huntsville, Alabama.
Featuring 670,000 solar panels, the Muscle Shoals project is located in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) service area, and is backed by a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with TVA.
TVA is a utility that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies in parts of seven south-eastern states in the US.
With various initiatives, the utility aims to reduce 70% carbon emissions by 2030, 80% by 2035, and to achieve net-zero emission generation by 2050.
Ørsted onshore business chief commercial officer Vishal Kapadia said: “We’re very excited to add to our high-quality, diverse customer base through this long-term partnership with TVA and Facebook.
“The acquisition and completion of Muscle Shoals represents the continued successful execution of our expansion strategy in which we seek to complement our core market greenfield development activities with opportunistic acquisitions in new markets to diversify our portfolio.”
TVA commercial energy solutions senior vice president Doug Perry said: “This solar farm is a historic moment in TVA history. It’s the first Green Invest project to come online, and it demonstrates the value of TVA’s focus on cleaner energy.”
The Muscle Shoals solar project is expected to increase Ørsted’s operational solar PV capacity to 647MW.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Ørsted has signed a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with Energie-Handels-Gesellschaft (EHA), the primary energy service provider for German retailer REWE Group.
Under the terms of the CPPA, the company will supply 100MW of sustainable green power that will be generated from its Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm, once it is completed in 2025.
In June this year, the company has unveiled its new strategic ambition of advancing the global build-out of renewable energy and set a target of achieving nearly 50GW of installed capacity by 2030.