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Nexamp Wrangles Largest Mass. Managed Growth Project For 2014

Nexamp Inc. recently completed a 4.4 MW photovoltaic project in Charlton, Mass. - the largest managed growth project in 2014 as part of the state’s SREC II program.

Boston-based Nexamp, which owns and manages the project, handled construction, design and development. Sol Systems was in charge of the tax equity syndication process.

Producing 5.76 million kWh of energy per year (enough to power 800 homes), the project provides net-metering credits for the Town of Westford, Mass., and recurring tax revenue for Charlton. “It’s a project that creates land use for the Town of Charlton and creates tax revenues to support their public services,” says Nexamp CEO Zaid Ashai.

The land, a 30-acre greenfield on a 60% slope, was “pretty steep for a solar farm,” says Nexamp’s Sean Harrington, project manager. “There are challenges associated with that,” he says, but the company completed the large-scale project in a little over three months, from the beginning of September to the end of December - a time frame that included a period of heavy rainfall.

Nexamp installed 14,564 Yingli modules using a screw-based, continuous-rack system, says Harrington. The project also incorporates Advanced Energy inverters, SolarBOS combiner boxes and ABB transformers.

Though it was a “great project from an interconnection standpoint,” Harrington says, Nexamp did need to extend two circuits about 2/10 of a mile in order to connect the array to the grid.

“From an engineering perspective, it’s a very attractive project,” Ashai says. “From an ownership perspective, it was very compelling,” he adds, referring to the project being the largest of its kind under the 2014 managed growth sector of SREC II.

The SREC II program - which provides solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) regulations and incentives for the state and is a continuation of SREC I - has managed growth allocations for each year: “Projects that are a certain size have to fill in for certain blocks,” and those blocks are filled through 2016, Ashai says. “This was the largest project in the 2014 time frame in that block period.”

Ashai predicts a steady growth trajectory for Massachusetts’ commercial solar market, as well as for Nexamp. Part of this growth will come from SREC II, he says, which will be “a great stepping stone into that commonwealth goal of 1,600 MW [of solar installed].”

At the same time, he says, the program continues to “create a stable mechanism to bring in private capital to the commonwealth to invest in infrastructure.” R

- Betsy Lillian

 

Novel Financing Funds 3.6 MW Municipal Project

Maryland-based Standard Solar Inc. will design and install a 3.6 MW solar power system for the Town of Stafford, Conn., as part of a program to make the town’s municipal load completely satisfied by renewable energy.

The project will feature three arrays: two 1.3 MW arrays located at Stafford Middle School and a 954 kW array at the town’s landfill. The town is also installing a geothermal heat pump system that will replace four oil burners in the town’s four largest public buildings. Replacing oil with geothermal will actually increase the electrical load; however, this will be compensated for by the output of the three solar arrays, which are expected to produce approximately 4.6 GWh of electricity per year.

Rather than follow a typical financing route for a municipality - which cannot avail itself of the federal investment tax credit (ITC) - by financing the solar project through a power purchase agreement (PPA) or lease, the town elected to purchase the systems through a tax-exempt lease purchase (TELP). This option is available to public, nonprofit and other tax-exempt organizations and enables the buyer to spread the purchase cost over the period of the lease.

“There’s been a lot of talk about TELPs for municipal purchases in the U.S., but they haven’t really been used for solar in my experience,” says Tony Clifford, CEO of Standard Solar. “This really is pretty novel.”

One of the reasons for the scarcity of TELPs in municipal solar deals is the combination of factors that move the Stafford solar project forward. Richard Shuck, Stafford’s first selectman, says the town has a very active energy committee with excellent engineering support that was willing and able to take on the task of owning a solar array large enough to meet the town’s needs.

“We looked at our consumption and wanted to know the most cost-effective way we could reduce energy costs,” Shuck says. “The town has recognized the value of energy independence and formulated a plan to get the town to a net-zero energy goal.”

According to Dennis Milanovich, Stafford’s town engineer, because municipalities cannot take advantage of the 30% ITC, they typically finance solar projects through PPAs or lease agreements. However, if the town was prepared to take on the complexities of issuing a request for proposals and assuming financial responsibility for the project, it was able to eliminate the overhead of having a third-party developer involved.

“The reality was that because we were willing to buy in such large quantity and buy it as a construction project, we got our dollars per kilowatt down to about $2.50,” Milanovich says.

As currently configured, the solar project will consist of approximately 11,780 Canadian Solar CS6X 310 W modules. The two arrays at the school will be fixed-tilt ground mounts, while the landfill will have a ballasted system that won’t penetrate the cap. The inverter type has yet to be determined.

Key to the viability of this approach was Connecticut’s Zero-Emission Renewable Energy Credit (ZREC) program combined with the state’s virtual net-metering policy. The ZRECs provide the financial returns that the town can use to pay for the system. Virtual net-metering gives the town some flexibility about where it can place the arrays and still get credit for them.

“Our existing expenditures combined with the ZRECs actually more than make up for the lack of any federal tax credit on this project,” Shuck says. “Our project - combined with the geothermal - is projected to be cash-flow positive right from the start.”

Because the town owns the three sites selected for the solar arrays, no lease was required for the land. The two locations for the arrays near the school are also near one of the town’s three circuits from the substation. The site at the landfill, where there are no loads, and thus is rendered useful solely due to virtual net-metering, is on a separate circuit. This is expected to balance the project from an interconnection standpoint and facilitate utility approval.

“We couldn’t have done this without the ZRECs and the virtual net metering,” says Standard Solar’s Clifford. “If you could only use the power at the place it was being generated, the project wouldn’t be possible.”

The combination of Connecticut policies enabling the Stafford project underscores the importance of a state’s legislative and regulatory climate in promoting the growth of a vibrant solar sector. This importance of state and local policies is going to become even more significant if the ITC expires as scheduled at the end of 2016. - Michael Puttré

 

Primrose Connects
48 MW Farm In U.K.

U.K.-based Primrose Solar has connected the 48 MW Southwick Estate solar farm near Fareham, U.K., to the grid.

Primrose says the project is currently the largest solar farm operating in the U.K. The ground-mounted facility uses JA Solar’s Full Square monocrystalline 275 W modules.

The site is surrounded by woodland, with numerous hedgerows and a public footpath crossing it. Primrose says the most challenging aspect of the build was managing the construction work to ensure there was minimal disruption to hedgerows and wildlife.

“The Southwick Estate is pleased to be home to the U.K.’s largest and greenest solar farm, and we’re looking forward to working with Primrose Solar as responsible stewards of the land for the 25-year lifetime of the project,” says Mark Thistlethwayte of the Southwick Estate.

 

Lockheed Martin Building 2.25 MW Solar Carport

Lockheed Martin has contracted Advanced Roofing and Advanced Green Technologies to design and build a 2.25 MW solar carport at the company’s Mission Systems and Training facility in Clearwater, Fla.

The solar carport will cover 151,400 square-feet of the facility’s parking lot with 7,260 Hanwha SolarOne S-series solar modules to provide shade for 534 cars. At completion, the project is expected to cut electricity purchases for the facility by up to 60%, according to Lockheed Martin’s estimates.

In addition to design, procurement and construction of the solar carport, Advanced Roofing’s contract includes resurfacing the entire 6.65-acre asphalt parking lot at the facility.

Construction of the project has begun, with completion set for this summer. When complete, the project is expected to be the largest private, non-utility-owned solar array in Florida and is anticipated to produce 3.33 GWh of electricity per year.

 

REC Solar Adding 7 MW To VA Medical Centers

REC Solar and construction management firm HICAPS are adding a portfolio of solar systems at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers in Salem, Va., and Las Vegas.

The ground-mounted, roof-mounted and carport systems will comprise nearly 7 MW of solar generation capacity.

REC Solar will serve as the engineering, procurement and systems integration contractor for the project. HICAPS, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, will act as the prime general contractor, responsible for site civil construction and overall management and implementation of the projects.

The VA is under an executive order from the Obama administration to implement sustainable programs that minimize the environmental impact of operations. Solar energy systems have been a large component of the VA’s strategy to meet this executive order.

With these systems, REC Solar will have a total of 21 installations with the department.

 

sPower Buys Stake In 16 FLS Solar Assets

Utah-based Sustainable Power Group (sPower) has purchased equity interest in solar assets in North Carolina from FLS Energy.

The 16 fixed-tilt ground-mount facilities achieved commercial operation in 2013 and 2014 and represent a total capacity of about 63.1 MW. The portfolio, named sPower FLS North Carolina Solar 1, has 15-year power purchase agreements with Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress.

The 16 solar projects in the portfolio, along with the location and capacity of each, are as follows:

• Innovative Solar 14, Hendersonville, 2.60 MW (pictured);
• Innovative Solar 15, Ellenboro, 2.51 MW;
• Battleground Solar Farm, Kings Mountain, 4.25 MW;
• Nick Solar, Liberty, 6.50 MW;
• Selma Solar LLC, Selma, 6.54 MW;
• Wallace Solar Farm, Wallace, 2.50 MW;
• Beulaville, Beulaville, 2.53 MW;
• Kenansville Solar Farm, Warsaw, 2.59 MW;
• Warsaw I Solar Farm, Warsaw, 2.57 MW;
• Warsaw II, Warsaw, 2.58 MW;
• FLS Solar 170 LLC (Tom Taylor), Lumberton, 2.66 MW;
• FLS Solar 200 LLC (AE Israel), Lumberton, 4.71 MW;
• Turkey Branch Solar LLC, Fairmont, 6.53 MW;
• Fairmont Solar Farm, Fairmont, 5.08 MW;
• Ellerbe, Ellerbe, 2.35 MW; and
• Biscoe Solar LLC, Biscoe, 6.69 MW.

CohnReznick Capital Markets advised on the project. Stoel Rives LLP assisted sPower with the negotiation and documentation of the acquisition.

“A key tenet in sPower’s management philosophy is seeking out partners and projects that drive growth in the solar industry,” says Ryan Creamer, sPower’s CEO. “FLS Energy is clearly amongst the most knowledgeable and successful solar energy companies on the East Coast.”

 

Abengoa Closes $660M Financing For CSP Plant

Abengoa has closed $660 million in nonrecourse project financing for the 100 MW Xina Solar One, a parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) facility in South Africa.

The funding comes from development financial institutions, including the African Development Bank, the International Finance Corp., the Industrial Development Corp. and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, as well as local investment banks, including Absa, a member of Barclays; Nedbank; and Rand Merchant Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank Ltd.

Construction began in 2014 on the project, which will supply electricity to Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA), signed in late 2014.

Xina Solar One will belong to a consortium - 40% of which is controlled by Abengoa - of the Industrial Development Corp., Public Investment Corp. and KaXu Community Trust.

The project will be located close to Pofadder (in the Northern Cape province) next to Abengoa’s 100 MW KaXu Solar One, which is already in commercial operations.

These two projects, along with Abengoa’s under-construction Khi Solar One (50 MW), were awarded by the Department of Energy of South Africa under its Independent Power Producer Program in an effort to introduce up to 17,800 MW of renewable energy by 2030.

 

Southern Power Acquires Two Georgia Projects

Southern Power has acquired the 80 MW Decatur Parkway solar project and the 19 MW Decatur County solar project - both in Georgia - from Tradewind Energy Inc.

The projects were proposed by Tradewind Energy and selected by Georgia Power in a competitive process. Both Georgia Power and Southern Power are subsidiaries of Southern Co.

The electricity and associated renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by the Decatur Parkway project will be sold under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Georgia Power. Construction of the single-axis tracking facility is in progress.

Georgia Power will purchase the energy generated from the Decatur County project under a 20-year PPA. Southern Power will retain the associated RECs, which it may sell to third parties. Construction of the facility is currently scheduled to begin in June.

Both projects, which are expected to enter commercial operation late this year, will be constructed on separate sites.

 

Xcel Plans 140 MW Of New Solar In N.M.

Xcel Energy is adding 140 MW of photovoltaic solar energy to its Texas-New Mexico generation mix with an agreement to purchase the output of two planned solar developments near Roswell, N.M.

The company has signed two long-term power purchase agreements with affiliates of Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources LLC and expects to add the solar energy capacity in 2016 before valuable federal investment tax credits terminate for new projects. The two contracts are subject to approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.

David Hudson, president of Southwestern Public Service Co., an Xcel Energy company, says the cost of the solar energy to be purchased, aided by New Mexico’s production tax credit, is competitive with Xcel Energy’s gas-fueled generation. This will further support the company’s goal of keeping fuel costs low by using a resource that requires no fossil fuel, has no emissions and doesn’t require water to cool its systems.

“We are making these purchases because they make good sense economically,” Hudson says. “Not only is solar energy dropping in price, it also displaces megawatts generated from some of our older, less-efficient natural gas-fueled plants. This saves on fuel costs and environmental compliance for years to come, and these savings are passed directly on to our customers in Texas and New Mexico.”

Xcel Energy announced in 2014 that it was seeking up to 200 MW of solar energy for its Texas-New Mexico system. At roughly the same time, NextEra was looking to build three solar projects near Roswell in Chaves County, N.M. The output of two of these three projects will make up the Xcel Energy purchase. R