The City of Huntington Beach and SunEdison announce agreement to deploy over 2MW of solar capacity

BELTSVILLE, USA: SunEdison, a leading worldwide solar energy services provider and subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., and the City of Huntington Beach, California, have signed agreements pursuant to which SunEdison will deploy over 2 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity at three Huntington Beach city properties without upfront costs from the City.

Through solar Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) between the City of Huntington Beach and SunEdison, SunEdison will finance, construct, monitor and maintain three carport canopy photovoltaic power plants at the Huntington Beach Civic Center, Central Library and City Yard. In return, the City will buy the energy produced from these solar systems to offset their demand from the grid at predictable energy rates for 20 years.

Mayor Cathy Green said: "Huntington Beach's solar project is a tangible commitment to the environment and our programs in Huntington Beach." Aaron Klemm, Energy Project Manager for Huntington Beach, added, "We evaluated a number of ways to meet our municipal solar capacity goal. The Power Purchase Agreement model made the most sense for us as there are no upfront capital or maintenance requirements from the city, and we receive very competitive power prices."

"SunEdison makes solar a reality for public sector clients like the City of Huntington Beach," said Brian Jacolick, GM, Americas for SunEdison. "With smart solar programs, proven experience and strong financing capabilities, SunEdison is the clear choice for government solar solutions."

The US Department of Energy and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program provided the funding for the initial research and consultation for the three solar carport canopy systems.

Once completed, the three deployments are expected to produce more than 63 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean solar energy over 20 years, enough energy to power over 5,900 average US homes for one year. SunEdison is expected to start construction in the spring of 2011.