Oct 26 2010
SunEdison, a solar energy services providing company and an auxiliary of MEMC Electronic Materials, and the City of Huntington Beach, California, have declared the signing of an accord. The agreement will require SunEdison to install 2 MW solar power generation facilities over the three city properties of Huntington Beach without any initial investment from the company.
The solar Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) contracted by the companies, requires SunEdison to invest, build, supervise and manage the solar PV plants installed over the carport canopies of Huntington Beach located at Civic Center, City Yard and Central Library. The city in turn will purchase the power produced from the solar installations to reduce its grid purchased power for a period of 20 years at a pre-fixed rate. The three solar installations when completed will generate over 63 million kWh of clean power for a period of over 20 years. The energy produced from the facilities will be sufficient to power over 5,900 average homes of the U.S. The construction of the project is expected to commence in the spring of 2011. The project received finance from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program and the U.S. Department of Energy for the research and consultations performed on the practicality of utilizing the three solar carport covering systems.
According to Aaron Klemm, Huntington Beach’s Energy Project Manager, the company has assessed a number of modes to meet the solar capacity goal set by the municipality and zeroed in on the PPA model of SunEdison that required no initial investment and maintenance charges and provides power at an attractive rate.
Brian Jacolick, SunEdison America’s General Manager, said that the company helps public companies such as the City of Huntington Beach to use solar power. He added that the affordable solar programs, established experience and good financial background make the company a first choice for government solar solutions