sPower, working collaboratively with MCE, has announced achieving commercial operations on the 130MW solar project in Lancaster, California.
Image: sPower, MCE begin 130MW solar project in California. Photo: Courtesy of Mariana Proença/Unsplash.
sPower stated that the project, named the Antelope Expansion 2, which was completed in last December, will sell its output to MCE under a long term power purchase agreement (PPA). While California is home to several large solar projects, the project is one of largest completed to-date in the state with a community choice aggregator (CCA).
CCAs help in realizing the potential of renewables by allowing cities and counties in bringing customers together to leverage individual purchasing power within a defined jurisdiction.
The Antelope Expansion 2 is second facility where sPower and MCE have partnered. The project will generate enough electricity to power over 26,000 homes while eliminating more than 217,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
MCE CEO Dawn Weisz said: “MCE is proud to partner with sPower and unions to continue supporting the green jobs and renewable energy projects that will both bolster local communities and evolve into the cornerstone of the state’s new economy.
“Projects like this demonstrate MCE’s mission to offer the 60-100 percent renewable energy options that helped MCE customers meet California’s SB 100 renewable energy targets 11 years ahead of schedule.”
Earlier this month, sPower received approval from the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors for the construction a 500MW solar project. This solar project will be built in phases over the next two year and will generate more than $20m in new tax revenues to the county.
The construction phase will create about 800 jobs and when complete, the solar plant will create nearly 35 full-time jobs.
sPower is a private owner of operating solar assets in the US. It owns and operates a portfolio of solar and wind assets of more than 1,500MW capacity and has a development pipeline of over 10,000MW. \
sPower is owned by a joint venture partnership between AES, a worldwide energy company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, a diversified institutional investment fund manager.