Borrego, a developer, EPC and O&M provider for large-scale renewable energy projects, has been selected by Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (GREC) to engineer and construct two utility-scale solar projects in Montana and South Dakota. The projects are the largest to date for GREC as well as Borrego’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) group; they are the first for Borrego in the two states.
The 80 MW AC Montana Sun (MTSun) Solar project is located on a 489-acre site in Yellowstone County, Mont. The 80 MW AC Fall River Solar project is sited on a 500-acre parcel in Fall River County, S.D. Both projects will begin construction in Q4 2021 and are scheduled to be operational in December 2022. When completed, the two solar plants will be among the largest in their respective states.
“We’ve worked with Borrego on a number of distributed generation solar projects and consider them a valued EPC partner,” says Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “These utility-scale projects mark the latest step in each companies’ gigawatt ambitions, and we look forward to bringing clean energy, and the jobs that come with it, to the emerging Montana and South Dakota solar markets.”
Montana Sun will generate 183,301 MWh of power annually while Fall River Solar will generate 190,156 MWh. Both projects have long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) in place with local investment-grade utilities: Montana Sun with Northwestern Energy and Fall River with Black Hills Power. GREC acquired both projects from Broad Reach Power (BRP) as part of its strategy to own and operate large-scale utility solar plants.
“These projects represent the latest – and biggest – additions to Borrego’s quickly growing utility-scale solar resume,” states Brian Barker, who was recently promoted to executive vice president of Borrego’s EPC unit. “Our success comes from having the confidence of partners like Greenbacker to help them make better decisions through project risk mitigation, module procurement and project optimization, ultimately increasing project financial returns.”
