SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE:SUNE) has announced it will be constructing nine solar power plants to power government facilities in Los Angeles County.
The 6.2MW (DC) project is being executed under a 20 year power purchase agreement (solar PPA); providing cheap, clean electricity and predictable energy pricing to the County.
“By signing a long term agreement with guaranteed pricing, L.A. County will save millions of dollars while dramatically reducing its exposure to rising utility rates,” said Sam Youneszadeh, SunEdison’s regional general manager of its Western U.S. operations.
The nine systems are expected to collectively generate enough energy each year to power more than 1,400 Californian homes and will avoid more than 51,700 tonnes of carbon emissions over the 20 years.
Many of the installations will take the form of solar car parking canopies, providing an added and valuable benefit of shading for vehicles.
All nine Los Angeles County projects are targeted for completion during the second half of next year and ongoing operation and maintenance of the arrays will be performed by SunEdison Services.
Los Angeles County is one of the USA’s largest counties (10,577 square kilometres) and has the largest population of any county in the nation – close to 10 million residents; representing approximately 27 percent of California’s population.
Solar canopies are becoming popular in the USA and increasingly appearing in SunEdison’s portfolio. Other recent solar car parking canopy projects for the company include a 3.2MW array of SunEdison solar panels at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts and three systems for the City of Fremont, California. SunEdison is also building 28 solar canopies in the Rialto Unified School District in California, with a collective capacity of 8.4 megawatts.
In other recent SunEdison news, the company has entered into an agreement to sell TerraForm Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLBL) 425MW of projects located in India.
“This agreement is a win-win for both SunEdison and TerraForm Global shareholders,” said Ahmad Chatila, President and Chief Executive Officer of SunEdison.
