EDF Renewables North America announces the signing of a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for the energy and renewable attributes related to the 70 megawatts (MWac) / 100.8 MWdc Desert Harvest II solar photovoltaic project under a Renewable Energy Credit (REC) + Index structure.
The Desert Harvest II Solar Project is expected to begin delivery of clean electricity to SCPPA’s participating members, Anaheim, Burbank, and Vernon, starting in 2020. In conjunction, EDF Renewables signed a long-term financial hedge for power with Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc.
This transaction demonstrates EDF Renewables’ ability to create customer-centric solutions. Under the SCPPA PPA, EDF Renewables worked diligently with forward-thinking California municipalities to create a structuring solution to address the specific challenges posed by the California “duck curve.” EDF Renewables is able to provide SCPPA with a PPA structure that shelters the buyer from exposure to merchant prices through the utilization of a long-term hedge, coupled with a 35 MW, 4-hour energy storage system (ESS), which are both the responsibility of and for the benefit of the Seller.
The Desert Harvest II Solar Project is located on unincorporated land in Riverside County, California, administered by the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM designated this area as a Solar Energy Zone (SEZ) and Development Focus Area, land set aside for utility-scale renewable energy development. Desert Harvest II is also specially designed to generate clean energy while protecting wildlife habitat and public lands. The project will utilize horizontal single-axis tracking solar photovoltaic (PV) technology.
“EDF Renewables is pleased to partner with SCPPA’s participating members – Anaheim, Burbank, and Vernon – to supply affordable, in-state solar energy to their customers from the Desert Harvest II Solar Project,” commented Ryan Pfaff, executive vice president of grid-scale power at EDF Renewables. “Desert Harvest II represents the Company’s second collaboration with SCPPA, and we look forward to working with them to make the project a success, providing a boost to the Riverside County economy in parallel through the creation of new jobs.”
SCPPA’s Executive Director, Mike Webster, states “EDF Renewable’s Desert Harvest II Solar Project will help to allow our participating member utilities to be on track to achieve their renewable production goals of 40% by the end of 2024.”
In addition to its economic benefits for Riverside County, the project will utilize an innovative design to generate enough clean energy to meet the consumption of up to 35,000 average California homes. This is equivalent to avoiding more than 173,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually1 which represents the greenhouse gas emissions from 37,000 passenger vehicles driven over the course of one year.
1 According to US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculations.
