Intersect Power, LLC, announced the commercial operation of its Athos III solar project located in Riverside County, California. Also known as Blythe Mesa Solar II, it generates 224 MWac / 310 MWdc of reliable solar energy, enough to power approximately 94,000 homes, and features 448 MWh of co-located storage.
“This project is much more than a significant new source of clean energy for California’s energy system; it’s also a case study in how the clean energy industry can maximize our impact by prioritizing domestic supply chains and union labor to ensure the benefits of the clean energy transition are felt by all Americans,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power.
The Athos III solar project is part of Intersect Power’s near-term portfolio totaling 2.2 GW of solar PV and 1.4 GWh of co-located storage. The remainder of the portfolio will be operational in 2023. Construction of the Athos III solar project created 500 peak union jobs.
The Athos III solar project is using First Solar thin-film modules and features Nextracker’s TrueCapture tracker optimization and control software to capture additional energy gain during diffuse light conditions. The technology continuously refines the tracking algorithm of each individual solar array in response to existing site and weather conditions. Nextracker said the software can deliver energy gains from 2-6%.
Intersect Power named Signal Energy as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm of the project.
Funding for the project’s construction and operations was secured as part of the broader portfolio financing announced last November, when Intersect Power closed on roughly $800 million in construction financing to fund construction of Athos III along with 415 MWdc Radian Project in Brown County, Texas, southwest of Fort Worth. The portfolio term debt was provided by HPS Investment Partners. The Tax Equity was provided by Morgan Stanley Renewables Inc. Construction debt was provided by Coordinating Lead Arrangers MUFG and Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, along with Cobank, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Helaba, and Nord LB as Joint Lead Arrangers.
Intersect Power has a base portfolio of 2.2 GW of solar PV and 1.4 GWh of co-located storage that is under construction or in operation. The company’s business plan includes growth in grid-tied renewables, as well as large-scale clean energy assets including green hydrogen.
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