National Grid Renewables starts construction on 160MW ‘largest’ Kentucky PV project

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
National Grid Renewables’ Noble solar-plus-storage project in Texas. Image: National Grid Renewables

National Grid Renewables began construction this week (14th December) on the ‘largest’ solar PV project in the US state of Kentucky.

Unbridled solar – the project in question, located across Henderson and Webster counties – will have 160MW of production capacity upon its projected completion in 2024. The site has a power purchase agreement (PPA) in place with Big Rivers Electric Corporation, a Kentucky state electrical wholesale company.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

National Grid Renewables has partnered with Wanzek Construction, a North Dakota-based renewables engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm, for the construction period.

Whilst a technology or supplier for the site was not revealed, National Grid Renewables signed a 2GW supply agreement with US module manufacturer First Solar for its cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film Series 7 modules, with delivery and deployments set for 2024-25.

“The Unbridled Solar Project will be a new and valuable addition to the diverse power portfolio needed to provide safe, reliable, and sustainable energy to our Member-Owners,” said Bob Berry, president and CEO of Big Rivers Electric Corporation.

Last month, the Kentucky Public Services Commission (KPSC) granted approvals for 1GW of solar and energy storage capacity to replace the generation at a retiring coal plant. A traditionally fossil fuel-reliant state, these approvals are significant for Kentucky and were welcomed by solar advocates.

However, in the same ruling, the KPSC extended the lifespan of two coal plants and approved a new gas generation facility; the requests for retirement came from state utilities Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU) which wanted to retire the plants because they were “too costly to operate and require massive investments to bring them into compliance with air and water quality regulations,” according to Josh Bills of the Mountain Association, a nonprofit community development financial institution in Kentucky.

National Grid Renewables, which is a US project development subsidiary of the UK interconnection operator National Grid, has been active in its solar operations in recent months. It signed a pair of PPAs in Texas last month for its 270MW-capacity Blevins solar project, and in October it began operations at the 247MW Yellowbud PV project in Ohio, which has a PPA in place with parcel delivery kingpin Amazon.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

September 2, 2025
Q Energy has reached financial close for Taurus B, a portfolio of seven solar PV plants in Spain with a combined capacity of 251.71MWp.
September 2, 2025
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) will build a pilot solar cell line in Germany to support US manufacturer Talon PV’s efforts to establish solar cell capacity in the US.
September 2, 2025
Spanish construction firm GES (Global Energy Services) has secured a contract to build a roughly 700MW solar-wind-storage hybrid project in Chile.
September 2, 2025
Ingeteam has supplied its INGECON SUN 3Power Series C liquid-cooled central PV inverters for a 640MW solar PV plant in Texas.
September 2, 2025
Scatec has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with BTG Pactual Comercializadora de Energia to develop a 130MW solar project in Colombia.
Premium
September 2, 2025
In August 2025, the final month of Australia’s winter, utility-scale and rooftop solar PV generation in the National Electricity Market (NEM) saw a dramatic 22.5% month-on-month increase to 3,338GWh.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines