First Solar Signs PPA for 40-MW Kingbird Solar Project

First Solar Inc. announced today that it has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with member cities of the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for electricity to be generated at the 40-MWac Kingbird photovoltaic solar power plant in Kern County, Calif. First Solar is developing and will construct the project.

The cities of Pasadena, Riverside, Colton and Azusa signed 20-year PPAs that will supply power from the solar plant to the cities’ municipal power utilities. With its 20-MWac PPA, the City of Pasadena reaches its goal of obtaining 40 percent of its power from Category 1 renewable energy. A separate 20-MWac PPA was jointly signed by Riverside, Colton and Azusa.

“We are pleased to work with these municipal utilities to meet their renewable energy goals,” said Brian Kunz, First Solar’s Vice President of Project Development. “And we’re proud to know that the communities of Pasadena, Riverside, Colton and Azusa will benefit from Kingbird’s clean electricity.”

Depending on final permitting, construction on the 320-acre Kingbird project, located near Rosamond, California in the Antelope Valley, could start in mid-2014, and is expected to create up to 200 jobs at its peak. The power plant is expected to be commissioned in late 2015.

In its first year, Kingbird will produce enough clean, renewable energy to power more than 11,000 homes, offsetting more than 20,000 metric tons of CO2 annually, which is the equivalent of taking about 4,000 cars off the road each year, and displacing over 18,000 metric tons of water consumption annually.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://www.solarbuildermag.com/news/first-solar-signs-ppa-40-mw-kingbird-solar-project/]