SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) has announced an agreement with a Los Angeles-based solar company to develop, build and operate 22 megawatts of distributed rooftop solar capacity.
Part of the Beacon Bundled Solar contract the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) awarded to SunEdison in July last year, SunEdison struck the deal with local company Permacity.
SunEdison will supply financing, SunEdison solar panels, procurement and engineering expertise while PermaCity will manage the construction of the projects.
“The City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have presented the local community with a fantastic opportunity to earn extra income by utilizing their roof space,” said Rafael Dobrzynski, SVP – General Manager Commercial & Industrial Distributed Generation at SunEdison. “The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power program supports the use of local developers and we are proud to be working with PermaCity on this project.”
In addition to generating a significant amount of electricity, the program will give property owners additional income through the leasing of their rooftops or other benefits. Owners will receive an annual lease payments, or roof repairs, their own solar power system, or energy efficiency upgrades and building control systems.
Systems will be installed using PermaCity’s non-penetrating racking system, SolarStrap. The mounting system is in use at a recently completed 5.1 MW installation for fashion retailer Forever 21. SolarStrap was literally ” baked” into the building’s new roofing and supports 15,512 modules. That system is currently the largest single-rooftop solar panel array in Los Angeles County and the third-largest in California.
As well as this 22 megawatt project, the Beacon Bundled Solar contract requires SunEdison to develop 88 megawatts of utility-scale solar power at the Beacon site in Kern County, which will be completed next year. Combined, these projects will generate 700 jobs and assist Los Angeles attain its goal of sourcing 25% of the city’s energy needs from clean energy by 2016 and 33% by 2020.
In other recent SunEdison news, the company has invited investors to listen in on the company’s fourth quarter 2014 conference call that will discuss financial results. The live webcast will occur on Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. USA Eastern Time at www.sunedison.com. Participating in the call will be Ahmad Chatila, Chief Executive Officer, and Brian Wuebbels, SunEdison’s Chief Financial Officer.
