Greentech Lead America: First Solar has sold the 139-megawattAC (MW) Campo Verde Solar Project to Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy.
Under the terms of the agreement, First Solar will complete construction of the project and will operate and maintain the power plant for 10 years.
The company has also signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E).
Construction of the Campo Verde project began in December 2012 and commercial operation is expected in fall 2013.
The Campo Verde project is located on a 1,443-acre site in Imperial County, Calif. and is expected to generate enough clean electricity to power nearly 48,000 homes, displacing 80,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.’
The Campo Verde Solar Facility will have an economic impact to the Imperial County, Calif., area totaling about $239 million over the next 30 years. It is expected to contribute $17.5 million in local tax revenue and employ an average of 250 workers during construction.
Campo Verde is the second project First Solar has designed and constructed for Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy. In 2010, First Solar sold the 30 MWAC Cimarron I Solar Project, adjacent to Ted Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch in northern New Mexico, to the partnership.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. First Solar does not expect to recognize revenue prior to commercial operation of the plant.
First Solar had record net sales of 1.1 billion for the fourth quarter, an increase of $236 million from the third quarter of 2012 and $415 million from the fourth quarter of 2011.