Springbok foreshadows Capital Dynamics upcoming development dominance

One of the largest solar endeavors in the country is officially on-line, as 8minute Solar Energy and Capital Dynamics have announced the completion and operation of the 450 MW Springbok solar cluster in Kern County, California.

The completion has been imminent for some time now, as last month the project’s final leg, the 121 MWdc Springbok 3 solar project was completed. The third leg of the cluster is also the baby of the bunch, as it joins the 191 MW Springbok 2 portion and 137 MW Springbok 1.

The electricity generated by all of the projects is set to be sold to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and municipal utilities in Southern California through the Southern California Public Power Authority. The contract is of the 27 year variety and comes in at a price of 5.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. For a more in-depth breakdown, see pv magazine’s coverage of the power contract in this article.

The contract was signed by LADWP in pursuit of the agency’s goal to provide 100% renewably sourced power. In all, these 450 MW represent 4.2% of that total commitment.

While we don’t know the exact components that went into Sproinbok 3, by looking at its siblings, we can get a good idea. Springbok 1 uses 435,000 Jinko modules on Array Technologies single-axis trackers, coupled with SMA Sunny Central inverters. Springbok 2 also utilizes Array’s single-axis trackers and Sunny Central inverters, but the modules choice shifted to 606,000 of Trina Solar’s.

The completion is a big accomplishment for asset owner Capital Dynamics, which acquired the project in September of 2018. The project adds a sizable boost to Capital Dynamics’ generation portfolio currently, which the company currently lists as 4.7 GW across over 100 projects, with 1.6 GW of that portfolio coming from large-scale solar.

And, as impressive as those marks may be, Capital Dynamics is not content to let its portfolio stagnate, as the company has an agreement in place with Sol Systems to develop up to 100 MW of commercial and industrial solar annually. However that agreement is small potatoes when compared with what Capital Dynamics is doing with Tenaska, as the two have entered into a partnership to build 14 solar projects totaling 2 GWac in six Midwestern states, all of which are part of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) grid.