By Cameron Chai
SunPower, a developer of solar projects and K Road Power Holdings, a company focusing on power sector, declared that Sun Power’s 25 MW, AC, McHenry Solar Project has been purchased by K Road. The project is located at Modesto in California.
Further, 144 jobs are created through the construction work of the project and nearly $18.7 million has been used for the local economy. SunPower has designed and is constructing and will also operate and maintain the project. The project will start commercial operations from September 2012.
Modesto Irrigation District (MID) will purchase the electricity produced from the project under a 25-year power purchase contract. This will support the utility to meet California's 33 percent renewable portfolio standard. The electricity produced is sufficient to power nearly 6000 houses.
The term project and non-recourse construction financing has been arranged by K Road through a syndicate of three institutions. CIT Energy, Union Bank, N.A. (Administrative Agent), and Rabobank worked as Joint Lead Arrangers.
SunPower is using its Oasis Power Plant product for the project. The product is a modular solar power block, which is fully integrated and designed for cost-effective and fast deployment of utility-scale solar projects and also for reducing the impact of land use. The power blocks combines SunPower's high efficiency solar panels and SunPower T0 Tracker, the Oasis operating system, the Oasis smart inverter and pre-manufactured system cabling. In addition, Oasis comprises SunPower advanced Tracker Monitoring and Control System (TMAC) to provide wireless control for the project.
The pre-assembled power block kits offer faster installation, consistent performance for longer period and has a superior capacity factor.
Source: http://www.sunpowercorp.com