EDP Renewables North America LLC (EDPR NA) announced that the Sandrini I & II Solar Energy Parks, located in Kern County, California, are now operational.
Kern County is home to some of the nation’s largest solar installations. Timothy Mule, director of development for the western region of EDPR NA told pv magazine USA that “the Kern County Planning Department and other Kern County offices in our permitting process were very professional and good to work with.” He added that they were “very business-minded and open to development in the County.”
The Sandrini Solar Energy Parks were built in two phases. Sandrini I is a 200 MW installation that has a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Shell Energy North America (SENA). The project consists of 511,313 Longi modules on Nextracker NX Horizon trackers. It also has 60 Power Electronics inverters.
Sandrini II, a 100 MW installation, has a 15-year PPA with Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA). It has 271,502 Longi modules on Nextracker NX Horizon trackers. The project also has 31 Power Electronics inverters.
More than 200 workers were employed during construction of Sandrini I and II with about 11 staying on in permanent positions, an EDPR NA spokesperson told pv magazine USA. Both phases were commissioned in Q4, 2024.
Sandrini 1 generates enough energy to power the equivalent of more than 76,000 California homes each year, the company reports. It has already disbursed more than $510,000 in tax payments to local governments since 2023, which has strengthened the local community by enhancing schools, roads and other essential services. Additionally, EDPR NA plans to pay approximately $15 million to local landowners who lease a portion of their land to house the solar energy park’s infrastructure.
Community choice energy
Power from Sandrini II will provide over a third of the total annual electric need for customers of Redwood Coast Energy Authority’s (RCEA) community choice energy program. Community choice energy, also known as community choice aggregation (CCA), is an alternative model for how electricity is sourced, delivered and priced.
These programs allow local governments to procure power on behalf of their residents, businesses and municipal accounts from an alternative supplier while still receiving transmission and distribution service from their existing utility provider. By aggregating demand, communities gain leverage to negotiate better rates with competitive suppliers.
RCEA supplies more than 90% of the electricity for Humboldt County on California’s rural north coast. EDPR NA noted that completion of Sandrini II marks a large step toward RCEA meeting its goal of supplying 100% renewable energy to its customers by 2030.
Sandrini II adds to the 8 GW of new clean energy resources brought online to date by California’s CCAs. An additional 10 GW of new clean resources are in contract with these CCAs and are currently under development or construction.
“RCEA is committed to achieving our goal of supplying Humboldt County with 100% renewable energy. Sandrini II is a welcomed addition to our energy portfolio,” said Sarah Schaefer, RCEA board chair.
Both phases of the solar energy park also yield environmental benefits, including saving more than 381 million gallons of water each year compared to the amount of water that conventional generation sources would need to produce the same amount of capacity. These water savings, in turn, will help aid Kern County’s water conservation goals.
“Sandrini I & II represent EDP Renewables’ continued commitment to investing in California and are a direct contribution to California’s admirable target of achieving 100 percent clean electricity by 2045,” added Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDPR NA. “The Golden State is known for its leadership in solar energy, and EDP Renewables is elated to meet the growing demand for reliable, clean energy sources.”
EDPR NA currently operates six renewable energy projects in California, totaling 488 MW of capacity. Its solar projects include two phases of the Lone Valley Solar Park, and the Windhub A Solar Park, as well as several other solar parks and battery storage facilities, including the recently completed 200 MW solar and 40 MW storage Scarlet Solar Energy Park.
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