Oct 10 2013
The North American Development Bank (NADB) closed four loan agreements totaling US$50.8 million for the construction of four solar energy parks with a total generation capacity of 19.5 megawatts (MWDC) located in northwestern San Diego County in California and sponsored by Macquarie Infrastructure Company Solar LLC. The electricity generated by the projects will be purchased by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sempra Energy.
Two of the projects with a generation capacity of 10.2 MWDC will be constructed on a 46-acre parcel of land in the unincorporated community of Valley Center, while the other two with a generation capacity of 9.3 MWDC will be built on a 45-acre parcel of land in the community of Ramona. All four projects will be executed under engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, using polycrystalline photovoltaic modules mounted on a single-axis tracking system.
Altogether, the solar parks are expected to generate sufficient electricity to power approximately 5,570 households.
Environmental benefits related to these projects include the estimated displacement of more than 9,900 metric tons/year of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 15 metric tons/year of nitrogen oxide. The projects complied with all the certification criteria of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and were approved by the NADB-BECC Board of Directors on September 4th.
To date, NADB has provided US$369.4 million in loan financing for 11 utility-scale solar projects in California, Arizona and Texas. When completed, these projects will have a total installed generation capacity of 110.2 MWAC.