8minute Solar Energy has announced that the company has executed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Clean Power Alliance (CPA). The 400 MW(300 MWac) Rexford 1 Solar and Storage Center in Tulare County includes 180 MW/540 MWh of energy storage, which means it will reliably deliver renewable energy to the grid day or night or on cloudy days.
When it becomes operational in 2023, Rexford will provide enough energy for over 370,000 Californians, making it not only the largest solar-plus-storage project for CPA but also the largest for any community choice aggregator (CCA) to date. The plant will offset about 600,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, or the equivalent of planting 12,000 trees every single day, for ten years in a row.
“The recent blackouts and continued wildfires in California offer sobering proof of the urgent need for more renewable and reliable energy generation that both fortifies our grid and fights climate change – and large-scale solar paired with energy storage is the most efficient, lowest-cost way to achieve just that,” said Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, Founder and CEO of 8minute.
“We are proud to partner with Clean Power Alliance, the largest clean choice energy provider in California. Our new generation of solar-plus-storage power plants are the future of energy – replacing an aging fleet of fossil fuel power plants with more economical and cleaner solutions and creating good jobs when they are needed most. This partnership is yet another example of California taking the lead on next-generation technology, and we expect to build a lot more solar and energy storage centers across the United States.”
The Rexford 1 Solar & Storage Center will be constructed on private, low-productivity disturbed farmland in Tulare County. Construction on the project will begin in early 2022.
“Solar-plus-storage is not only the cleanest way to increase grid reliability, but it’s also the smartest and most cost-effective,” said Ted Bardacke, Executive Director of Clean Power Alliance. “We are excited to partner on a project of this scale with 8minute, a trusted Los Angeles-based developer that shares our commitment to accelerating the clean energy transition in California.”
Rexford 1 marks 8minute’s second project with CCAs. The firm has contracted 4.5 GW of solar projects, with over 18 GW of solar energy capacity and 24 GWh of storage under development across California, Texas, and the Southwestern United States.
