New West Texas Solar Project Joins ERCOT Market
Vistra Energy’s Upton 2 solar project in west Texas has now achieved commercial operations.
At 180 MW, Upton 2 is Texas’ largest operating solar facility, Vistra Energy claims. The company’s power generating subsidiary, Luminant, is the plant’s owner.
Vistra announced the purchase of Upton 2 in May 2017 while the project was under development. Last year, Houston Pizza Venture, one of the largest Papa John’s franchisees in the country, announced a nine-year agreement to purchase renewable energy from the facility.
“When we announced the project a year ago, we did so knowing that Upton 2 was the perfect fit for Vistra’s integrated business model,” says Curt Morgan, the company’s president and CEO. “Through this project, we’re enabling our Texas retail brand, TXU Energy, to enhance its retail solar offerings, and we’re diversifying Luminant’s generation fleet, as well. This project makes strategic sense for us as a business, and we’re excited that it is officially powering Texas in time for the 2018 summer.”
Sited on nearly 1,900 acres, roughly the equivalent of 1,424 football fields, the project consists of 718,000 solar PV panels.
