First Solar honored for Sarnia PV plant

SARNIA, ONTARIO - The Arizona-based company First Solar Inc. has been recognized by the Canadian Solar Industries Association for developing and constructing Canada's largest photovoltaic power plant.

The 80-megawatt Sarnia solar project, completed in October in Sarnia, Ontario, and purchased by Enbridge Inc., is also the largest operating PV facility in the world.

Ontario has used feed-in tariffs to promote solar and wind energy development and plans to discontinue the use of coal-fired power plants. Photovoltaic modules convert sunlight directly into electricity.

Enbridge and First Solar jointly accepted the "Solar PV Project of the Year" award at CanSIA's annual conference.

"We are pleased to receive this recognition for the Sarnia project," said Frank De Rosa, First Solar senior vice president of project development for North America. "Together with Enbridge, we are leading the development of utility-scale solar energy in Canada."

Peter Carrie, First Solar vice president of business development in Canada, was also honored for his individual contribution to Canada's solar industry and received the "Solar Leader of the Year" award during the trade groupÂ’s conference.

Although the Sarnia project is currently the largest solar PV power plant in the world, larger ones are on the drawing boards in the U.S. Southwest.

First Solar and New Jersey-based NRG Energy Inc. recently announced that NRG would acquire a 290-megawatt photovoltaic power plant First Solar has been developing in southwestern Arizona called Agua Caliente.

The project is scheduled to be completed by 2014 and has a 25-year power purchase agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which serves Northern and Central California. When completed, Agua Caliente may become the largest operational photovoltaic site in the world. Solar PV projects of 500 megawatts or more are in varying stages of development in California.

Located in Yuma County, the Agua Caliente project is expected to generate state and local tax revenues, provide wages for up to 400 construction jobs and create economic benefits for many local businesses, First Solar and NRG said in a news release earlier this month. The site is about 60 miles east of the city of Yuma. The project is to be built north of Interstate 8, on former farmland of the White Wing Ranch, north of Dateland and southwest of Hyder beneath the Palomas Mountains.

"Solar power is critical to transitioning our nation to having a greater emphasis on large-scale clean energy technologies and it is going to be projects of the scale of Agua Caliente that will help us achieve this ambitious goal," said David Crane, president and chief executive of NRG Energy. "This investment significantly increases our presence in the state and benefits the residents of Arizona while providing attractive returns to NRG's stakeholders."

At full capacity, NRG estimates the 290-megawatt project will provide zero-emission electricity for more than 225,000 homes. Solar PV power plants do not require water, apart from occasional washing of the panels, which is not always necessary some installations rely on seasonal rainfall to keep modules free of dirt.

"Agua Caliente is representative of our mission to provide clean, affordable, sustainable solar energy, capitalizing on our advanced thin-film technology and the tremendous solar resource of Arizona," said Rob Gillette, chief executive of First Solar. "We are very pleased to further expand our relationship with NRG as the owner of Agua Caliente, the first of our multi-hundred-megawatt utility-scale projects to begin construction."

An application has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy for a federal loan guarantee in connection with the financing of the project, which is expected to be one of the first in the United States to start construction under the program. Closing of the acquisition is contingent on receiving the federal loan guarantee. NRG plans to invest up to $800 million of equity in the project through 2014 through a potential combination of cash on hand and third-party investor equity.

Situated on 2,400 acres between Yuma and Phoenix, the Agua Caliente project has secured all necessary permits for construction and the early construction phases have begun. First Solar has developed the project and is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor. First Solar said it will also provide operations and maintenance services.