Duke Energy Renewables acquires three California solar projects from SunPower

Duke Energy Renewables announced today it has acquired three solar power projects from SunPower Corp. totaling 55 megawatts (MW).

The sites include the 20-MW Rio Bravo I, the 20-MW Rio Bravo II, and the 15-MW Wildwood Solar II solar power plants. They are located in Kern County, California, adjacent to two existing solar sites owned by Duke Energy Renewables.

“These solar projects are excellent facilities that increase our solar presence in California by 50 percent,” said Rob Caldwell, president, Duke Energy Renewables and Distributed Energy Technology. “As we continue to grow our footprint in the state, we’re pleased to provide cost-efficient, sustainable power systems that contribute to California’s leadership in renewable energy.”

The acquisition was completed in late December, the same month the facilities were placed in service. Southern California Edison is purchasing the power generated by the plants under 20-year agreements.

“Forward-thinking utilities today are diversifying their energy portfolio with increasing amounts of solar capacity,” said Ty Daul, SunPower senior vice president, Americas Power Plants. “We are proud to partner with Duke Energy to serve more California customers with affordable, emission free solar power generated from these facilities.”

The sites consist of high-efficiency SunPower solar panels. More than 2,600 MW of solar power plants worldwide are using SunPower’s leading solar technology.

Duke Energy Renewables growing California operations
In December, Duke Energy Renewables also completed its 20-MW Longboat Solar Power Project in San Bernardino County, California, which was acquired from EDF Renewable Energy and announced in March of 2016.

The following is a summary of Duke Energy Renewables’ California solar projects acquired and completed in 2016:

Project name Location	In service date	Size (AC)	Number PV Panels	Customer
Rio Bravo I Kern County	Dec. 2016	20 MW	59,770	Southern California Edison
Rio Bravo II Kern County	Dec. 2016	20 MW	59,770	Southern California Edison
Wildwood II Kern County	Dec. 2016	15 MW	48,200	Southern California Edison
Longboat San Bernardino County	Dec. 2016	20 MW	84,000	Southern California Edison

 

In addition, Duke Energy Renewables has six other solar power projects in California that began operations prior to 2016:

Project name Location	In service date	Size (AC)	Customer
Sunset Reservoir San Francisco	Dec. 2010	5 MW	San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Highlander Twentynine Palms	June 2013	21 MW	Southern California Edison
Pumpjack Kern County	Dec. 2014	20 MW	Southern California Edison
Wildwood Kern County	Dec. 2014	20 MW	Southern California Edison
Seville I Imperial County	Dec. 2015	20 MW	San Diego Gas & Electric
Seville II Imperial County	Dec. 2015	30 MW	Imperial Irrigation District