NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA,
SPWRB) held a ceremony today to celebrate the formal groundbreaking
of the 250-megawatt (MW) California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR).
Construction of the San Luis Obispo County project commenced in
September.
Celebrating the groundbreaking of the
250-megawatt California Valley Solar Ranch in San Luis Obispo, CA.
From left to right: SunPower project engineer Skyler Shipley;
Bechtel's Jim Ivany, president, Renewable Power; NRG Energy CEO
David Crane; SunPower CEO Tom Werner; and San Luis Obispo County
Supervisor Jim Patterson. (Photo: Business Wire)
First announced more than three years ago by SunPower, CVSR is
one of the largest central station photovoltaic solar plants in the
world. It is expected to create approximately 350 jobs over its
two-year construction period and to inject $315 million into the
local economy. NRG completed the acquisition of CVSR on September
30.
Once completed, CVSR will power a yearly average of 100,000
homes with clean, renewable solar energy, sold to PG&E through
25-year power purchase agreements that have been approved by the
California Public Utilities Commission.
“Today’s groundbreaking marks an important milestone for one of
the most significant renewable energy projects to serve PG&E’s
customers,” said Tony Earley, PG&E Corporation Chairman, CEO
and president. “We look forward to the completion of the California
Valley Solar Ranch and its bolstering our delivery of clean energy
to Northern and Central Californians.”
“NRG’s investment in large solar installations like California
Valley Solar Ranch creates hundreds of construction jobs and
provides clean, renewable power to thousands of homes in tandem
with our distributed solar installations at sports stadiums, on
rooftops and in parking lots,” said Tom Doyle, president of NRG’s
Solar and West Region. “We fully expect the price of solar to
continue declining, which will make solar power increasingly
cost-competitive with fossil fuel generation for many states in the
near future.”
NRG is the sole owner of the project, which is expected to begin
partial operations by early 2012, with the balance of the project
coming online later in 2012 and 2013. SunPower will complete the
project’s design and construction, working with Bechtel, which is
providing balance of plant engineering and procurement services and
construction services. Once completed, NRG and SunPower will
jointly operate and maintain CVSR for two years, after which NRG
assumes sole responsibility.
At the site, SunPower is installing the SunPower Oasis™ Power
Plant product, a fully integrated, modular solar power block that
is engineered to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy utility-scale
solar projects while optimizing land use. Each power block
integrates the SunPower® T0 Tracker with SunPower high-efficiency
solar panels, pre-manufactured system cabling, the Oasis smart
inverter, and the Oasis operating system. SunPower Oasis also
features the SunPower advanced Tracker Monitoring and Control
System (TMAC™) for wireless control of the power plant. The power
block kits are shipped pre-assembled to the job site for rapid
field installation, and offer the highest capacity factor and the
most reliable long-term performance.
“With more than 500 megawatts of SunPower power plants
generating emission-free, affordable solar power around the globe
today, our technology delivers guaranteed performance, optimized
energy production, and long-term reliability,” said Howard Wenger,
president, regions for SunPower. “We congratulate our partners NRG
and Bechtel and the community here in San Luis Obispo for breaking
ground on this historic project, which is creating significant
numbers of local jobs and injecting millions of dollars into the
local economy, while protecting and conserving more than 13,000
acres of land in and around the Carrizo Plain.”
NRG has three large-scale solar plants operational and four
other projects currently under construction across California,
Arizona and New Mexico. In the U.S., large-scale SunPower plants
are operating in Florida, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona, and the
company is on track to begin construction on three additional
California plants.
About NRG and NRG Solar
NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and
use energy. A Fortune 500 company, NRG is a pioneer in developing
cleaner and smarter energy choices for our customers: whether as
one of the largest solar power developers in the country, or by
building the first privately funded electric vehicle charging
infrastructure or by giving customers the latest smart energy
solutions to better manage their energy use. Our diverse power
generating facilities can support over 20 million homes and our
retail electricity providers—Reliant, Green Mountain Energy Company
and Energy Plus—serve more than two million customers.
NRG Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NRG, has more than 2,000 MW of
photovoltaic and solar thermal projects under development or in
construction across the southwestern United States. More
information is available at www.nrgenergy.com and
www.nrgsolarenergy.com.
Safe Harbor Disclosure
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section
21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking
statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and
assumptions and include NRG’s expectations regarding the California
Valley Solar Ranch project and forward-looking statements typically
can be identified by the use of words such as “will,” “expect,”
“believe,” and similar terms. Although NRG believes that its
expectations are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these
expectations will prove to have been correct, and actual results
may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contemplated above include, among
others, general economic conditions, hazards customary in the power
industry, weather conditions, competition in wholesale power
markets, the volatility of energy and fuel prices, failure of
customers to perform under contracts, changes in the wholesale
power markets, changes in government regulation of markets and of
environmental emissions, unanticipated outages at our generation
facilities, the inability to access other financing arrangements,
the inability to implement value enhancing improvements to plant
operations and companywide processes, our ability to create and
maintain successful partnering relationships.
NRG undertakes no obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. The foregoing review of factors that
could cause NRG’s actual results to differ materially from those
contemplated in the forward-looking statements included in this
news release should be considered in connection with information
regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect NRG’s future
results included in NRG’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission at www.sec.gov.
About SunPower
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA, SPWRB) designs, manufactures and
delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels
and systems available today. Residential, business, government and
utility customers rely on the company’s quarter century of
experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on
investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered
in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has offices in North America, Europe,
Australia and Asia. For more information, visit
www.sunpowercorp.com.
SunPower’s Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that do not
represent historical facts and may be based on underlying
assumptions. The company uses words and phrases such as “expect,”
“will,” “on track” and similar expressions to identify
forward-looking statements in this release, including
forward-looking statements regarding: (a) expected completion date
of the California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) project; (b) SunPower’s
expected completion of project design, construction and
maintenance; (c) solar PV plants competing favorably with fossil
fuel generation; (d) power to be sold to PG&E through a 25-year
power purchase agreement and powering 100,000 homes; and (e)
SunPower to begin construction on three additional California
plants. Such forward-looking statements are based on information
available to the company as of the date of this report and involve
a number of risks and uncertainties, some beyond the company's
control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those anticipated by these forward-looking statements, including
risks and uncertainties such as: (i) the company's ability to
obtain and maintain an adequate supply of raw materials,
components, and solar panels; (ii) general business and economic
conditions, including seasonality of the solar industry and growth
trends in the solar industry; (iii) construction difficulties or
potential delays, including obtaining land use rights, permits,
license, other governmental approvals, and transmission access and
upgrades, and any litigation relating thereto; (iv) the
availability of financing arrangements for the company’s projects
and the company’s ability to obtain additional financing; (v)
increasing competition in the industry and lower average selling
prices, and impact on gross margin; (vi) timeline for revenue
recognition and the impact on the company’s operating results;
(vii) the impact of regulatory changes and the continuation of
governmental and related economic incentives promoting the use of
solar power, and the impact of such changes on our revenues,
financial results, and any potential impairments to our intangible
assets, project assets, and goodwill; (viii) the significant
investment required to construct power plants and the company’s
ability to sell or otherwise monetize power plants; (ix)
fluctuations in the company’s operating results and its
unpredictability, especially revenues from power plants or in
response to regulatory changes; (x) the availability of financing
arrangements for the company’s utilities projects and the company’s
customers; (xi) the company’s ability to commence construction on
three additional California plants; (xii) volatility in power
prices and solar PV’s ability to compete with fossil fuel
generation; (xiii) the company’s success in completing the design,
construction and maintenance of CVSR; and (xiv) other risks
described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended January 2, 2011, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended October 2, 2011 and other filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements should
not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any
subsequent date, and the company is under no obligation to, and
expressly disclaims any responsibility to, update or alter its
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
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