First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) continues to expand its solar
installation business. Today the solar panel maker announced an
agreement to build a 48 megawatt (MW) AC ground-mounted photovoltaic
(PV) power plant for Sempra Generation (NYSE: SRE).
This project would expand the 10MW AC power plant First Solar completed
for Sempra Generation in 2008, which is located near Boulder City, Nev.
First Solar will design, engineer and construct the PV power
plant. The Company expects to begin construction in 2009. Once
construction is completed in 2010, the combined 58-MW AC project is
expected to be the largest PV power plant in North America.
John Carrington, First Solar executive vice president of
marketing and business development, said "Sempra Generation's decision
to use First Solar in expanding the El Dorado solar plant demonstrates
our ability to provide a cost-effective energy solution for utility
scale projects."
As is the case with the original 10MW AC solar plant, the 48MW
AC project will be constructed adjacent to Sempra Generation's existing
480MW El Dorado Energy power plant, located about 40 miles southeast of
Las Vegas. Sempra Generation will own and operate the PV power plant.
The agreement is conditioned upon Sempra Generation executing a power
purchase agreement with a utility customer for the electricity
generated by the PV power plant and applicable state and local
regulatory approvals.
In March, First Solar announced an agreement to build a 30-MW solar power plant in New Mexico for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. The company also acquired the project development pipeline of competitor OptiSolar for $400 million in stock.
