Israel-based developer Arava Power has confirmed that its 270MW SUNRAY solar PV project in Ulvade County, Texas, has started commercial operations.
Project SUNRAY spans an area of approximately 1,200 acres and is to be leased for a cumulative period of 50 years. It includes over 500,000 solar PV modules and is expected to produce 515GWh of electricity annually.
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Arava also confirmed that the project will sell 50% of the generated electricity under a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA), though it was not disclosed who this has been agreed with. The remaining electricity will be sold on the merchant electricity market in Texas.
Arava Power and Paz Group acquired the SUNRAY project from OCI Energy in 2021 and started developing it the same year. The two companies completed financial closing in 2023 and, as of last month, finished the construction work and received approval for commercial operation.
The project secured US$215 million in construction financing fully underwritten by Nomura Securities International and US$70 million in senior debt provided by a consortium led by Nomura, which included Bank Ha’poalim and BHI.
Commenting on the project, Ilan Zidkony, CEO of Arava Power, said the company has had to contend with “various regulatory upheavals” and more.
“Over the past few years, our team had to contend with regulatory upheavals, an almost unprecedented inflationary environment, and a complex financing landscape,” Zidknoy said.
“Our company is proud of this achievement and are grateful for the confidence of top-tier partners and financiers. The commercial operation of SUNRAY is a key milestone in Arava Power’s US vision, with a portfolio of projects in various stages of development totalling 1.3GW across the US.”
Texas outpaces California in utility-scale solar PV deployment
The news of this new Texas-based solar PV project entering commercial operations comes as Texas has surpassed California as the leading US state for total installed utility-scale solar PV capacity, as reported by PV Tech.
According to the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) latest quarterly market report, Texas has nearly 22GW of installed PV capacity after adding 1.6GW of solar PV in the second quarter of 2024.
All renewable energy technologies combined, the US added 11GW of solar PV, wind and energy storage capacity in Q2 2024, up 91% from the same period in 2023 and a record-breaking addition for any Q2. This strong quarter brought clean energy installations up to 19GW for the first half of the year. ACP expects the second half of the year to be stronger still, which would see the US post a second consecutive year of record additions.
