Jan 11 2013
Swinerton Renewable Energy, a leading builder in the solar utility industry, has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by K Road Moapa Solar for the 250MWac solar plant. It will be the first large-scale solar project on Tribal property.
K Road Moapa Solar awarded two contracts to Swinerton for the Plant, the values of which have not been disclosed. Under the first contract, Swinerton will serve as the design-build contractor undertaking the engineering, construction and equipment procurement for the project. In addition, a second contract was executed for Swinerton to operate and maintain the solar plant for ten years with a performance generation guarantee.
The K Road Moapa Solar Project is located on the Moapa Paiutes' Tribal land 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. It will supply power to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) under a 25-year supply contract that will provide clean power to more than 118,000 homes.
Long History of Tribal Partnerships
"We are honored to partner with K Road Power on this ground-breaking project," said George Hershman, Vice President and Division Manager for Swinerton Renewable Energy. "We have immense respect for K Road Power and a long history of partnering with Tribal Reservations on construction projects. We believe that we share common values and goals and look forward to providing direct and indirect employment opportunities for tribal members, and to producing clean power to benefit the Moapa Tribe as soon as possible."
K Road awarded the contracts to Swinerton after a thorough and highly competitive selection process. "We are very pleased to collaborate with Swinerton on the K Road Moapa Solar Project," said K Road President Gerrit Nicholas. "Their proven capabilities will ensure that the Project is expeditiously completed to the highest standard, while carefully considering the interests of all our partners and stakeholders."
Guarantee of Energy Generation
Swinerton, which will be celebrating 125 years in the construction industry this year, has built over a dozen solar utility plants in the United States and Canada totaling over 185MWdc. In addition to building the solar plants, Swinerton's Service Division, led by Joe Brotherton, offers comprehensive service offerings including operating and maintaining (O&M) and monitoring solutions via their proprietary software platform, SOLV. "Due to our unique service offerings and monitoring solutions, we were able to offer K Road strong performance guarantees to provide the energy generation assurance they needed to fulfill their power purchase agreement (PPA) contract and necessary financial security," says Brotherton.
Work to Commence Immediately
Swinerton Renewable Energy will begin engineering design and access roads for the project immediately, and expects to break ground in June 2013. Dave Grubb, Jr., Director of Strategic Procurement, says, "The site design and key technology components will be finalized soon and long-lead time equipment orders will be placed to ensure an on-time delivery."
The plant is expected to be commissioned in multiple phases, with the ability to produce and deliver energy as early as May 2014. Although it is an aggressive schedule, Swinerton has a history of completing solar plants on-time and looks forward to working with K Road Moapa Solar and the Moapa Tribe on this historic project.
Source: http://www.swinerton.com/