The 166 MWdc Tower Solar project in Morrow County, Oregon will deliver energy to the Portland General Electric (PGE) power grid and support Meta’s data center operations in the region.
Avangrid, an energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, procured 200,000 630 W high-efficiency Yukon N Series Solar modules from SEG Solar, making it the first utility-scale customer to receive modules from the Texas facility.
SEG Solar’s Houston plant officially opened Aug. 8, 2024, with pv magazine USA present at its ribbon cutting. The company invested $60 million in its automated factory, which has an initial capacity of 2 GW of n-type panels per year with plans to expand to 5 GW by 2030. Its production line, which SEG said is the longest photovoltaic line in the world, takes in glass and cells and runs through production stages over conveyor belts all the way through framing and packaging.
The photovoltaic cells used at the Houston operation are sourced from Indonesia, but the company said it is committed to producing cells in the United States. SEG Solar is currently employing more than 300 people in Houston, expecting that to grow to 500 at full capacity.
“Domestic partnerships are critical to meeting rising demand, and by leveraging U.S. manufacturing, Avangrid has an opportunity to support local jobs and economic opportunity in states like Texas, while advancing a reliable energy future powered by American-made products,” said Avangrid CEO Jose Antonio Miranda. “Our work with SEG Solar demonstrates not only our commitment to building out the domestic supply chain, but the benefits of investing in American energy infrastructure.”
Avangrid’s Tower Solar project is currently under construction on about 900 acres of industrially zoned land. It is expected to be complete in 2026. The facility will deliver clean energy to PGE’s grid through Green Future Impact, a voluntary program designed to help large commercial, industrial and municipal customers meet sustainability and carbon reduction goals by developing new clean energy facilities in the region. Subscribers to PGE’s Green Future Impact program enroll in a bundled renewable energy product and receive the renewable energy certificates associated with the energy generated from the new facility.
Avangrid said it is the leading supplier of renewable energy to PGE’s GFI program, including from Pachwáywit Fields, Oregon’s largest operating solar facility, and the Daybreak and Bakeoven solar farms that are currently under construction. Together with Tower Solar, the current combined capacity of Avangrid’s Green Future Impact program facilities will total 482 MWac
Construction of Tower Solar will create over 200 jobs, mostly sourced locally, Avangrid said. The project is expected to pay about $20 million in combined PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) and property taxes which will support a variety of public services, especially schools.
Avangrid currently has 11 operating solar projects throughout the United States, totaling approximately 1.4 GWdc.
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