Leeward Renewable Energy and Peninsula Clean Energy have entered into a 15-year solar-plus-storage power purchase agreement (PPA) involving Leeward’s 102 MW Chaparral Solar Facility in Kern County, Calif. Peninsula Clean Energy will also purchase the energy and capacity from Chaparral’s 52 MW (208 MWh) battery storage system.
Peninsula Clean Energy’s board of directors on September 25 approved the PPA, which is the organization’s first to involve a solar-plus-storage project. The Chaparral project will enable Peninsula Clean Energy to take another step toward its goal of delivering 100% renewable energy generation to its customers across San Mateo County and the City of Los Banos.
“While we continue to elevate the amount of solar, wind, geothermal and other clean generation, the storage capacity of this agreement is vital to ensuring we are getting closer to our ultimate goal of providing 24/7 emission-free renewable power to our customers by 2025,” says Peninsula Clean Energy CEO Jan Pepper.
“Leeward is very excited to build on its partnership with Peninsula Clean Energy in providing affordable and reliable renewable energy to its customers as well as helping the agency achieve its ambitious energy goals,” states Kathryn Arbeit, Leeward’s senior vice president of development. “This agreement represents another critical step forward in the region’s transition to dispatchable clean energy and also showcases Leeward’s expanding solar and energy storage capabilities and growing footprint in California’s Antelope Valley.” Construction of the facility will begin in December 2021 and the project is expected to begin delivering energy to Peninsula Clean Energy by December 2023. Leeward will own and operate the facility.
