First Solar inks 40 MW of solar PPAs with California cities

Nov 12, 2013 - First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) of the US said today it had signed a 20-MW power purchase agreement (PPA) with the City of Pasadena and one more 20-MW joint PPA with Riverside, Colton and Azusa for its Kingbird solar project.

The 40-MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant, to be located in California’s Kern County, needs to obtain final permits to start construction in the middle of next year. Commissioning is planned for late 2015. First Solar calculates that the 40-MW solar park would produce enough power for over 11,000 local homes in its first year of operations. This would translate into over 20,000 tonnes of not-emitted carbon dioxide for a year.

The PPA with Pasadena will see the city reach its target for 40% share of Category 1 renewables in the city’s power. All four cities that will receive the output of the Kingbird project are part of the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA).

In its PV module tracker report released at the end of October, market analyst NPD Solarbuzz said that First Solar was still the top module supplier to the US market in the 12 months to end-September 2013. The company makes PV modules and also develops solar projects.

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