ENGIE North America took part in a groundbreaking ceremony with county officials and customers for the 225 MW Long Draw Solar Project in Texas. By signing off on a PPA for the project’s full generation capacity, ENGIE will serve four Texas municipalities (New Braunfels, Denton, Garland, and Kerrville) and their respective electric utilities.
The Long Draw Solar Project, located in Borden County, Texas, is expected to come online in the summer of 2020 and will be the largest solar project to date in ENGIE’s portfolio. The site will feature more than 800,000 solar panels, employ some 150 people during its peak construction phase and generate total estimated tax payments to Borden County and the Borden County Independent School District of more than US$10 million over the life of the project.
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This PPA came to fruition off of an original request for PV energy proposals issued by New Braunfels Utilities, who partnered with Denton Municipal Electric, Garland Power & Light and the Kerrville Public Utility Board for the purchase of PV from ENGIE and Long Draw.
As part of this 15-year PPA, New Braunfels Utilities has contracted for 100MW of PV capacity from from the Long Draw project. Denton will purchase 75MW, while both Garland and Kerrville will each purchase 25MW of capacity.
Luis Felipe Birolini, head of solar development at ENGIE North America, said: “We’re so glad to join with leaders here in Borden County and with our customers to support them in creating new opportunities to diversify their renewable energy sources on a meaningful scale. We look forward to completing the project in the summer of 2020, and to providing zero carbon, affordable energy for years to come.”
New Braunfels Utilities CEO, Ian Taylor, added: “New Braunfels Utilities is pleased to be a part of ENGIE’s Long Draw Solar Project, and today’s groundbreaking ceremony. Today culminates many months of hard work and dedication to further enable NBU to be good stewards of our environment – and to deliver affordable and reliable energy to our customers.
“This project is a great example of municipal entities working together for the best of their customers and embodies NBU’s mission in action, to provide innovative, essential services. We look forward to this project coming online next year.”
