US solar manufacturer First Solar has continued its disposal of utility-scale solar assets by agreeing the sale of a 900MWdc portfolio in Arizona to Longroad Energy.
First Solar has agreed the sale of the Sun Streams 2 (200MWdc), 4 (200MWdc) and 5 (500MWdc) projects, which have a total capacity of 900MWdc with the further potential for between 1 – 2GWh of battery storage. While Longroad has closed the acquisition of Sun Streams 2, which is currently under construction, the deals for Sun Streams 4 and 5 are subject to regulatory approval.
As per the terms of the deal, Longroad has executed purchase agreements for 900MWdc of First Solar’s Series 6 modules, around 700MWdc of which constitute new orders for First Solar.
The deal comes weeks after First Solar sold a 10GW pipeline of utility-scale solar assets to Canadian pension fund Leeward Renewable Energy.
Paul Gaynor, CEO of Longroad Energy, said Arizona was an important location for the company as it looked to bring “competitive renewable projects to power buyers in the Western US”.
The company has already secured a long-term offtaker for energy produced at Sun Streams 2, while Sun Streams 4 and 5 are due to come onstream in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Longroad said the two projects were “uniquely positioned” to accommodate a variety of offtake structures, with or without storage.
“The Sun Streams complex is ideally positioned. It is adjacent to one of the most significant power hubs in the desert Southwest and California, the solar resource is excellent, and we have multiple transmission options with direct access to CAISO and the Southwest markets.
“We also have the ability to include a significant amount of energy storage capacity to make the assets even more competitive. We look forward to bringing the rest of the Sun Streams complex to fruition,” Gaynor said.
