SunPower announced Tuesday that construction has begun on 11.4MW of solar power systems for public facilities operated by the County of Santa Clara in California.
The San Jose-based manufacturer will construct a total of six systems, which will be owned by the County, together with the associated renewable energy credits. All are expected to be operational by the end of this year, according to the company, who also estimates that the electricity generated by the systems once operational could power more than 6,000 electric vehicles for 30 years.
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“SunPower works with public agencies that require innovative, effective approaches to managing energy costs without reducing services in their communities,” said Howard Wenger, SunPower president, business units, in a statement. “Solar makes sense for counties and municipalities today because it's cost-competitive, fast to install, and supports sustainability goals. We are particularly pleased to serve the interests of the County of Santa Clara, where SunPower has been headquartered for 30 years, with high performance SunPower solar power systems that will maximise long-term value.”
Funding for the project was made possible through California’s net metering and renewable energy self-generation bill credit transfer (RES-BCT) programmes. The latter of which is a rate plan that allows local governments to transfer excess bill credits earned through on-site renewable energy self-generation to other eligible accounts of the same local government. US Department of Treasury clean renewable energy bonds (CREBs) were also secured to finance the systems.
Five out of the six on-site systems are comprised of ground-mounted solar systems featuring SunPower modules. The sixth installation will be a solar carport that generates emission-free energy while providing shade.
SunPower has around 45MW of large-scale commercial and public agency solar power systems operating or under contract in Santa Clara.
Other ventures of SunPower in California include the construction on a 9.5MW solar power plant in Los Angeles, announced this week, which will generate power for use by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). This project is also expected to be operational by the end of this year.
DWR will purchase the power generated by the plant under a PPA with SunPower, which also provides competitive electricity rates.