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.
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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.