First Solar Inc. has secured a power-purchase agreement from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District for its 10.8-megawatt solar project to be built on the site of the decommissioned Rancho Seco Nuclear Generation Station.
The Rancho Seco project t will annually generate more than 22,000 megawatt hours of energy which will be offered to SMUD business customers through the utility’s Commercial SolarShares program. The new Golden 1 Center is the first announced customer that will receive electricity generated by Rancho Seco.
The project is situated on 60 acres of SMUD-owned property including the location of the decommissioned Rancho Seco Nuclear Generation Station. Construction is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2015, with commercial operation beginning in mid-2016.
Separately, First Solar signed an agreement with Strata Solar for the procurement of an incremental 400MW of First Solar’s advanced thin film photovoltaic modules, with delivery expected from 2017 into 2018. With this agreement, Strata, a solar project developer, will have purchased more than 1,000MW from First Solar.
Strata expects to install the modules in a series of solar projects in the southern and eastern U.S.
