Greentech Lead America: Exelon Corporation, an energy
provider in the U.S., and First Solar, a manufacturer of solar modules,
announced that the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One project has received the
first advance of a loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan
Programs Office, finalizing Exelon’s ownership of the project.
First Solar will construct, operate and
maintain the 230 MW photovoltaic power project for Exelon.
The project located at northern Los Angeles County and will be one of the
largest such projects in the world.
The project will be built in two phases and the first
portion of the project is expected to come online in late 2012, with full
operation planned for late 2013.
AV Solar Ranch One will generate enough electricity to
power the equivalent of 75,000 average California homes. Pacific Gas &
Electric Company will buy the full output of the plant through a 25-year power
purchase agreement. The project is expected to cut approximately 140,000 metric
tons of carbon emissions per year, the equivalent of taking approximately
30,000 cars off the road.
Recently, NRG Energy and First Solar
announced an agreement for First Solar to build NRG’s 26 MW Avra Valley solar
project near Tucson, Ariz.