Swinerton Renewable Energy revealed that it has started construction on New Energy Solar’s Mount Signal 2 Plant, a photovoltaic solar project, located in California.
Image: Mount Signal 2 Plant will have more than 460,000 solar modules. Photo: Courtesy of khunaspix/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The Australia-based New Energy Solar (NEW) had acquired the Mount Signal 2 Plant in Imperial Valley in the southern part of the state from D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) in March 2018.
While DESRI will continue to provide development and asset management services to the solar project, Swinerton Renewable Energy is handling its construction through an engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) contract.
New Energy Solar CEO John Martin said: “We are proud to be working with high-quality partners like Swinerton and DESRI, who both have extensive experience in the solar industry.
“Mount Signal 2 is an example of solar energy becoming part of mainstream infrastructure investment – meeting not just the goal of earning a return on investment, but offsetting carbon emissions, helping communities and utilities to meet environmental targets, and supporting job creation in rural areas like the Imperial Valley.”
Swinerton Renewable Energy expects the construction on the Mount Signal 2 Plant to be wrapped up in December 2019. The solar farm will be spread across 1,200 acres, nearly 9.6km west of Calexico.
More than 200 people will be recruited locally to work on-site throughout construction of the Mount Signal 2 Plant, said the EPC contractor.
Swinerton Renewable Energy general manager George Hershman said: “Mount Signal 2 exemplifies the lasting economic impact a solar project can have on a community.
“This project will offer the underemployed local workforce not only hundreds of well-paying jobs, but also the opportunity to build a skill set that can be used on future solar projects in the area.”
The solar project, which will be made up of more than 460,000 modules, will incorporate the NEXTracker single-axis tracker system and Power Electronics inverters.
The Mount Signal 2 Plant will feed its power into the San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) transmission lines and is estimated to produce enough electricity to meet the power consumption needs of around 70,000 homes.
The new solar plant is backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Southern California Edison (SCE) that will come into effect in mid-2020.