Intersect Power, a utility-scale renewable energy developer, along with Chattanooga, Tenn.-based EPC Signal Energy, has five massive shovel-ready projects, located in California and Texas, ready to begin construction in 2020. Signal and Intersect have been working over the past 18 months to design this large portfolio of solar power plants that hit a combined capacity of more than 1.7 gigawatts.
Intersect Power has contracted with local utilities and other wholesale energy buyers on a series of power purchase agreements as well as more sophisticated energy or renewable energy credit hedges, securing revenue profiles that offer superior risk-adjusted returns. The well-capitalized company has negotiated a combination of purchase and lease agreements and finalized all material permits for the various sites, which are primarily located on disturbed former agricultural and grazing lands.
“Over the past two years our team of roughly 20 people, with relatively little risk capital, has gone from a flat start to over 1.7 GW of fully developed, contracted, shovel-ready projects. That type of value creation from such a small team is almost unprecedented in the marketplace,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO and cofounder of Intersect Power.
Signal Energy will install more than 3.7 million First Solar Series 6 modules over an area totaling roughly 15 square miles across five projects in two states. NEXTracker will provide its NX Horizon solar trackers equipped with TrueCapture intelligent control software. The cumulative output of the five solar plants will power the equivalent of nearly 357,000 homes and result in approximately 2.75 million tons of avoided CO2 emissions per year.
Plans for the solar plants include:
- A project in Borden County, Texas, located northeast of Midland. The plant will have an installed capacity of 425 megawatts (MW) and is scheduled to begin construction in February 2020.
- A project in Culberson County, Texas, located east of El Paso. The plant will have an installed capacity of 375 MW and is scheduled to begin construction in March 2020.
- A second project in Culberson County. The plant will have an installed capacity of 250 MW each year and is scheduled to begin construction in June 2020.
- A project in Riverside County, Calif., southeast of Los Angeles. The plant will have an installed capacity of 350 MW and is scheduled to begin construction in June 2020.
- A second project in Riverside County. The plant will have an installed capacity of 300 MW and is scheduled to begin construction in October 2020.
“Working on this portfolio of projects has certainly been a remarkable experience,” said Karl Schadlich, preconstruction manager of Signal Energy overseeing the projects. “This portfolio will be one of the largest ever contracted in the United States. We are fortunate to have an enthusiastic customer that encourages us to bring creative solutions to the table while maintaining a highly efficient and collaborative relationship. Our teams integrate well with one another, and it’s truly exciting to witness our partnership and these projects come to life.”
— Solar Builder magazine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.