EDP Renewables North America has commissioned its 100MW Ragsdale Solar Park in the US state of Mississippi.
The developer has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with technology giant Amazon for the project’s entire electricity generation capacity, and noted that the project began commercial operations “late” in the fourth quarter of 2024. EDPR acquired the project in 2022 from Acadian Renewable Energy, and completed development in the last two years.
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“The opportunity to develop utility-scale solar and contract directly with customers like Amazon, who are also committed to expanding their own presence in Mississippi, has been invaluable,” said EDPR North America CEO Sandhya Ganapathy. “We are proud to aid the state’s commercial and industrial growth with homegrown energy solutions.”
The project is EDPR’s second solar facility to come online in Mississippi in the last 12 months, following the commissioning of the 175MW Pearl River plant last July. While Mississippi has not been a leading light in the US solar sector – figures form the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) show that just 1.4GW of capacity was in operation as of the third quarter of 2024 – the trade body expects 2.7GW of new capacity to come online in the next five years.
EDPR also noted that the project is part of its ‘Close the Loop’ programme, an initiative developed in tandem with solar panel recycler Solarcycle to integrate the recycling and reuse of renewable power products into project design from the outset. Under the scheme, EDPR will recycle over 3,200 solar panels, with a total mass of 120 tons, once the project reaches the end of its commercial operation.
Panel recycling has become an increasingly important part of the global solar sector in recent years, as projects grow in scale and begin to reach the ends of their operational lives. Effectively integrating recycling into project plans is particularly important because, as Jan Clyncke, managing director at PV Cycle, told PV Tech Premium last year, “it will be really challenging to make reuse economically viable.”
In the months since this interview, Solarcycle has signed a number of recycling partnerships with leading global PV developers, including Canadian Solar, RNWBL and Silfab Solar. Last October, the company also announced plans to build a 5GW recycling plant in the US state of Georgia, as it looks to expand its operations in the country.
