Southern Company’s Garland Solar Facility Comes Online
Southern Power, a subsidiary of electric utility holding firm Southern Company SO recently issued a joint statement with Recurrent Energy, a unit of Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ, announcing that their 200-megawatt (MW) Garland Solar Facility in California has come online.
Garland Solar Facility, which uses approximately 723,000 Canadian Solar high performance photovoltaic (PV) solar modules, is expected to provide electricity to around 50,000 homes. Construction works on the facility started in Nov 2015 on 2,000 acres of land in Kern County, CA. Moreover, the facility is operating under a two long-term power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison under which the electricity and associated renewable energy credits generated by the facility will be sold.
Southern Power is the majority owner of the Garland Solar Facility. The development of the project was managed by Recurrent Energy, which owns the remaining interest.
The facility is expected to help Southern Power expand its solar energy portfolio and meet the ever increasing energy demand. In fact, the facility is in line with Southern Power’s strategy of growing its wholesale business through acquisition and construction of power generating assets that are covered by long-term contracts.
Southern Power owns 33 solar, wind and biomass projects, including 11 solar projects in California. Since 2012, the parent – Southern Company – has acquired more than 4,000 MW of renewable energy projects.
Southern Company is one of the largest and best-managed electric utility holding companies in the U.S. The firm dominates the power business across the southeastern region.
