Renewable energy developers Pegasus Energy announced they intend to build a 400-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Alameda County California.
The "Mountain House Solar Farm" would cover roughly 2,000 acres and provide electricity for 250,000 homes. It would be the largest solar plant (PV or solar thermal) in the US.
Read our article on Small vs Large Solar.
The developers plan to develop, finance, own and operate the facility.
Pegasus has applied to the California Independent System Operator for a connection to the statewide electricity grid, and will soon file an application with Alameda County planners for a conditional-use permit, according to the Contra Costa Times.
The developers hope to break ground in 1Q13 and sell power to PG&E, which has substations a few miles away.
The project is expected to create between 350 and 400 solar energy jobs during construction and 40-60 permanent jobs upon completion.
Pegasus said it wants to use 1603 grant money approved as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment act. The grant funds expire at the end of this year, but the company said it believes the grant funds will be extended until January 1, 2013.
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Bravo! I applaud thisambitious project, and hope to be able to help out with it.
Solar Power is great!
Photovolatic systems made solar a household name.
Utility scale solar is only solar thermal (Concentrated Solar Power).
A 400MW monster would make to grid unstable without electrical storage that is simply very expensive and unreliable!
Go solar but not PV plant that size!
2000 acres covered in glass.What a shame.
Bravo! I applaud this effort as it is an example of what we can do to use our natural resources for power.
http://www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=cons_solar
I’ll believe it when this project actually delivers electrons to the grid. There are literally hundreds of these “ambitious” projects lined up…most of which will unfortunately never see the sun.
Pegasus has a bit of work to do like getting an off-taker contract, funding, some experience, a viable system design approved, a transmission study, approval from Alameda County, an EIR…
Good luck is all I have to say.
Not sure what the picture of the Nellis Air Force Base solar farm on their Web site has to with Pegasus but I’m rather sure that was built by others.
Re: Ta Da
You’re looking at the wrong website. Pegasus Energy Partners is what you need to search. Here is the actual website (which isn’t anything to toat about).
http://pegasusenergypartners.net/Home_Page.html