Eurus Energy and NRG Solar to build California's largest solar PV generating facility

PRINCETON, USA: Eurus Energy America and NRG Solar, a subsidiary of NRG Energy Inc. have joined forces to build what will be, upon completion, the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) generating facility in California.

When operating at full capacity, the three Avenal zero-emission solar projects—Avenal Park, Sun City and Sand Drag—will generate a total of 45 megawatts (MW), enough power to meet the needs of 36,000 homes cleanly and efficiently. The Avenal projects, located in Kings County, CA, were developed by Eurus and are owned jointly by Eurus and NRG.

Eurus and NRG have completed construction financing on all three projects, and given full notice to proceed on Sun City (20 MW) and Sand Drag (19 MW) to the Ryan Company, Inc., the engineering, procurement and contracting firm that will construct the Avenal projects.

Ryan Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR), will begin mobilizing immediately to start construction, with the projects expected to achieve commercial operation in mid-2011. The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the 20-year Avenal power purchase agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric.

NRG Solar and Eurus’ expertise developing solar power, utility construction and operation, backed by their corporate resources, will ensure the Avenal projects are brought online and on schedule to help the state achieve its short-term goals for greater renewable power—and advance California’s progress significantly toward achieving its stated target of 33% renewable power generation by 2020.

“We believe Avenal represents not only a bold new chapter in developing clean, zero-emission solar power in California, but also is a key piece in helping the state meet its ambitious renewable portfolio standard by the end of the decade,” said Tom Doyle, president of NRG Solar.

“California continues to lead our nation in mandating the increasing use of renewable power, and, as the owners of the largest PV site there today, we look forward to continuing our partnership with California and our leadership as a developer of this bountiful, sustainable power source.”

Mark E. Anderson, president and CEO of Eurus Energy America, said: “The Avenal projects are just the first of many utility-scale PV solar projects that we expect to be developing, building and owning in the State of California. We are very pleased to be adding these solar power projects to our portfolio of wind projects helping California reach its nation-leading goals to increase the utilization of emission-free power generation.”

Along with the clean power it will bring to California, the projects also will bring much-needed jobs to an economically distressed area.

Avenal will be built with thin film solar panels provided by Sharp Electronics, solidifying Sharp’s presence in the California utility scale market and bolstering diversity of supply for California’s growing solar infrastructure.