Recurrent Energy LLC, a Canadian Solar subsidiary, has signed a 25-year solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with Stanford University, which will be 100% solar-powered by 2021.
Completing the university’s transition to clean power, Stanford will purchase energy from the 88 MW Stanford Solar Generating Station #2, to be constructed near Leemore in central California. The plant is scheduled to go online in late 2021.
The new project will augment the 67 MW Stanford Solar Generating Station #1 in Rosamond, Calif., which came online in 2016, and 5 MW of on-campus rooftop solar power, which came online in 2017. Together, the three installations will produce enough renewable power each year to equal the university’s annual electricity consumption.
“We feel honored to help Stanford University achieve its goal to source 100 percent of its campus’ electricity from renewable energy,” comments Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar.
“As a university, we are pursuing an ambitious plan to further reduce our carbon footprint, and our second solar plant is a critical new component of that plan,” says Marc Tessier-Lavigne, president of Stanford. “Sustainability is a major focus for Stanford and a priority for our local community. Completing our transition to clean power builds on the groundbreaking research of Stanford faculty and students, and it marks a major advance in our efforts to provide a sustainable learning environment for our campus.”
Because of advances from the Stanford Energy System Innovations initiative, the university’s current greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions are already down by 66% from peak levels. The new solar plant is projected to reduce GHG emissions even further, to 80% below peak levels – four years ahead of the renewable energy goal established in the university’s long-range planning process.
