Arizonan utility Salt River Project (SRP) and renewables company Clēnera have signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the CO Bar Solar project that is expected to deliver between 440-480MW of power.
Clēnera will construct and operate CO Bar Solar, currently under development near Flagstaff, Arizona. Construction on the plant is scheduled to begin in 2023, with the project to come online in 2024.
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The agreement, which SRP said represented its largest standalone solar power project, will aid in the utility’s decarbonisation efforts as it seeks to establish over 2GW of new utility-scale solar by 2025. It also aims to reduce carbon emissions from its operations by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050 from its 2005 levels.
“The CO Bar Solar power plant is an incredible clean energy resource that will support SRP customers and help us take a significant step towards our decarbonization goals,” said SRP CEO Mike Hummel.
Clēnera’s vice president of business development, Jared McKee, said: “We are excited to be working with SRP to develop one of the largest solar projects in Arizona. Clēnera has historically paved the way for renewable energy in the state, and CO Bar Solar is yet another example of progress being made in Arizona’s clean energy sector.”
Last month, Israeli independent power producer (IPP) Enlight Renewable Energy bought 90% of Clēnera’s shares in an acquisition worth US$433 million that sees Enlight add 1.6GW to its portfolio. And last month it secured a deal to acquire a portfolio of solar projects in Spain with a combined capacity of 490MWdc.
Sister site Energy-Storage.news reported this week that SRP has just brought online its biggest lithium-ion battery storage project so far, a 25MW / 100MWh Tesla Megapack system adjacent to the utility’s 626MW Agua Fria Generating Station thermal power plant in the City of Peoria.
