Ørsted Takes FID on 430 MW Solar Project Near Houston

Ørsted has taken final investment decision on the Old 300 Solar Center, which is located in Fort Bend County, 40 miles from Houston, Texas, and is expected to come online in Q2 2022.

Over the past year, Ørsted has significantly increased its solar portfolio and with the addition of Old 300, now has 1.1 GW of solar PV under construction, leading to a total of 3.4 GW of capacity in operation and under construction across onshore wind, solar PV and storage.

Old 300 is located close to Houston, one of the largest and fastest growing metropolitan areas in the US and benefits from a long-term PPA.

“With its location close to Houston, Old 300 will further diversify our onshore footprint into a premium market with strong long-term fundamentals.” says Vishal Kapadia, Chief Commercial Officer for Onshore. “We’re excited to add another large-scale, attractively contracted solar project to our portfolio. Solar is the fastest-growing power generation technology in the world and will continue to play a key role in our growth going forward.”

The project will create a dependable income source for family ranches who lease their land for the project. Furthermore, project construction will create up to 400 jobs at its peak and the long-term operation of Old 300 Solar will generate over USD 40 million in property tax revenue for Fort Bend County and the Needville Independent School District.

Old 300 Solar Center will cover an area of 2,800 acres and utilise approximately 1 million bifacial modules, supplied by JA Solar and LONGi Solar. Inverters will be supplied by SMA America.