Ørsted Acquires 227 MW Under Construction Solar Plant in the US

Ørsted is expanding its solar footprint with the acquisition of the 227 MW ac under construction Muscle Shoals solar project located in Alabama, US.

Global offshore wind and renewable major Ørsted has announced that it is expanding its solar footprint with the acquisition of the 227 MW ac under construction Muscle Shoals solar project located in Colbert County, Alabama, in the US. Concurrent to the acquisition, the firm has entered into a tax equity funding commitment with Wells Fargo.

The project will be Ørsted’s second solar project in the US, following the decision in November 2019 to commence construction of the Permian Energy Center solar plus storage project in Texas. Following the acquisition of Muscle Shoals, Ørsted will have two solar projects totaling 647 MW ac of generation capacity under construction across the US along with 40 MW ac of storage capacity.

The new project is expected to come online in the third quarter of 2021. The modules for the project will be supplied by First Solar.

The acquisition of the project, which is fully contracted under a long-term power purchase agreement with the Tennessee Value Authority (TVA), marks the first project in the southeast US, an area in which we have a further pipeline of projects in development.

Vishal Kapadia, Senior Vice President & CFO Onshore, said “the acquisition of Muscle Shoals continues the expansion of our solar portfolio and further diversifies the geographic footprint of our asset base by establishing a foothold in the rapidly growing Southeast solar market. Once complete, Muscle Shoals will deliver high-quality contracted revenues that will provide Ørsted an attractive incremental source of stable earnings.”

Recently, we had reported that the company had completed the 230 MW Plum Creek wind farm in Nebraska’s Wayne County. The project consists of 82 wind turbines and represents Ørsted’s first operational project in Nebraska, further adding to the regional diversity of the portfolio. Even amidst global challenges, the project was completed on schedule and brings Ørsted’s operational onshore capacity to 1.6 GW.

Neil O’Donovan, Senior Vice President and COO of Onshore at Ørsted had said “thanks to our Plum Creek team and our dedicated partners for their focus and determination in delivering the project on schedule despite the very challenging circumstances we face today.”