SunPower Corp .has signed a 20-year power-purchase agreement to supply Turlock Irrigation District with power from a 54-megawatt solar project.
To serve the agreement, SunPower is starting construction this month on the project at the company’s Rosamond Solar site in Kern County, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2016. TID anticipates the plant to generate an equivalent amount of energy to serve approximately 20,000 homes.
TID estimates the PPA will move the district approximately 7% closer to meeting the California’s recently increased Renewable Portfolio Standard requirement of 50% renewables by 2030. It will also add another significant resource to the district’s already diverse portfolio of certified environmentally-friendly greenhouse-gas-free resources, which include wind, eligible small hydro, geothermal, and photovoltaic solar.