GCL New Energy Inks PPA for 110 MW Solar Project in Colorado

Further, this project is located on 611 acre site 35 miles east of Denver, Colorado where the land is flat and has good irradiance.

Clean energy conglomerate GCL Group arm GCL New Energy has inked a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) for its Pioneer 110 MW greenfield project in Colorado.

Further, this project is located on 611 acre site 35 miles east of Denver, Colorado where the land is flat and has good irradiance.

The total annual yield of the project is around 215 million kWh, and plans to call for connection to the grid in 2020.

Moreover, the PPA has a fixed initial contract term of 10 years, with 3 optional 5-year extensions, for a possible 25-year lifetime. The project requires no security deposit and has low grid connection costs.

With this project, the company will gain valuable experience developing a US greenfield project, and can create a development model for future projects. The process includes land lock-up, an on-grid feasibility study, negotiating and signing a grid connection agreement, securing land permits, and PPA negotiation and signing.

By controlling development costs and altering its PPA negotiation strategy to adapt to fast-changing circumstances, the company beat all well-known, established American developers to secure the agreement.

Meanwhile, the company has shifted its development strategy from focusing solely on the Chinese market to aggressively expanding in both the Chinese and overseas markets, and has been stepping up its capacity in overseas solar farm development. It has three regional headquarters in North America, Japan, and Africa.