115-MW Solar Power Project (+ 5 More Large Solar Power Projects)

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7 more big solar projects, the first one being a behemoth of a solar power plant:

1. Marguerite Fund acquires 36 MW of ginormous, 115-MW Toul-Rosières solar power project. This 115-MW solar power plant, if built today, would be the world’s largest solar PV project (scroll down to the bottom of that page to see the current list of the the world’s largest). It is a project of EDF Energies Nouvelles. “Located in a former air base owned by the French State and covering a total area of 522 hectares it is situated near the city of Nancy, in the north-east of France,” The Marguerite Fund wrote yesterday, when announcing its new stake in the project. “One and a half million panels using First Solar’s thin film technology will be installed for the project which is expected to start generating electricity in the third quarter of this year.”

2. 48-MW solar project sold in Northern Italy. Italy is a solar powerhouse, and this project keeps its power growing. S.A.G. Solarstrom AG announced last week that it had “signed a purchase contract with an institutional investor for the 48 MWp project ‘Serenissima’ in Northern Italy on December 31.” This was S.A.G. Solarstorm’s largest project to date. “The project was completed and brought into service on August 31, 2011. Final processing and payment of the purchase price, which is in the triple-digit million-euro range, as well as transfer of the corporate shares, will take place in the first quarter of 2012.”

3. Western Wind Energy Corp buys 42 MW of solar panels. Western Wind Energy Corp “signed a Module Supply Agreement (“MSA”) with a leading international, multi-billion dollar photo voltaic panel manufacturer for 42 MW DC (30 MW AC) for its Yabucoa Project located in Puerto Rico,” the company recently announced. The panels were delivered and Western Wind Energy became owners of them before December 31st, 2011, thus “qualifying and exceeding the minimum 5% safe harbor provision of Section 1603 of the American Recovery Re-Investment Act. (“ARRA”).  This transaction enables Western Wind Energy to be eligible for the 30% US Federal Tax Free Cash Grant which is estimated to be approximately US $45 million…. The Module Supply Agreement was secured by a US $12 million loan that will be repaid with the project finance proceeds led by Rabobank (New York office).”

4. NTC signs power purchase agreement (PPA) for 50-MW solar power plant. “NTPC has Signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with MP Tradeco on in Bhopal , for supply of power from 50 MW Solar PV Power Plant to be set up at Rajgarh in the State of Madhya Pradesh,” the company notes.”Expected to be commissioned by the year 2013 the 50 MW solar power from Rajgarh Solar PV shall be bundled with unallocated power from upcoming coal based stations of NTPC by Government of India.”

Shri MKV Rama Rao, Executive Director (Commercial), NTPC and Shri PK Vaish, Managing Director, MP Tradeco exchanging PPA documents in presence of Shri IJ Kapoor, Director (Commercial ), Shri SN Ganguli (RED-West-II) and Shri Mohammad Suleman, Secretary (Energy), Govt of Madhya Pradesh and other senior official from NTPC, Government of MP and State Govt utilities of Madhya Pradesh.

5. 42 MW of solar power installed at Mesquite Solar power project. “Three blocks of solar panels totaling 42 megawatts (MW) have been installed at its Mesquite Solar 1 project and are now delivering renewable electricity to the power grid,” Sempra Generation recently announced. “Construction on the 150-MW photovoltaic solar installation in Arlington, Ariz., located about 40 miles west of Phoenix, began in June 2011.  Sempra Generation anticipates that the project will be completed in early 2013.”

5. Austin Energy & Austin mayor activate 30-MW solar power project. Austin Energy, Austin City Mayor Lee Leffingwell, and Village of Webberville Mayor Hector Gonzales cut the ribbon on a 30-megawatt (MW) solar power plant in the Village of Webberville, Texas on Friday. “The project marks the first utility-scale solar-energy resource for Austin Energy and helps bring the utility one step closer to achieving a 35% renewable energy mix by 2020,” Austin Energy writes. “It is the largest active solar project of any public power utility in the country, the largest active project in Texas and among the largest of all operating solar projects in America. The project began generating power on December 20, 2011.”

More info on the project:

The ribbon cutting event was held at the 380 acre photovoltaic solar farm. The 30 MW solar project is comprised of more than 127,000 photovoltaic solar modules mounted on single-axis trackers that follow the sun to maximize solar energy production. The utility-scale project is expected to produce more than 61 million kilowatt-hours of clean solar energy in the first year of operation alone….

It is expected the 30 MW solar project will generate more than 1.4 billion kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy over 25 years. That is enough energy to power more than 136,000 average U.S. homes (5,000 homes per year) while offsetting more than 1.6 billion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.

More big solar energy project news I missed? Probably not, but if so, drop it in the comments!


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Zachary Shahan

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