SunEdison to fund 5 PV projects for Xcel

NEW MEXICO: SunEdison has announced that it will finance, construct and maintain 5 photovoltaic solar installations in New Mexico, the United States – which will total 50-megawatt (AC)/55-megawatt (DC) – under a 20-year solar-power services agreement (SPSA) with Xcel Energy.

Xcel Energy will buy the solar power from the plants in New Mexico. The 5 sites – with a capacity of 10 megawatts each – will be located in the Eddy and Lea counties in south-eastern New Mexico. The plants will consist of a utility-scale, ground-mount system that will become completely operational by the end of 2011.

The 5 installations combined will generate sufficient electricity for over 10,000 homes in its first full year of operation, according to a statement from Xcel Energy.

Xcel Energy said the new project will enable the company to continue to meet the renewable portfolio standard of New Mexico. The renewable portfolio standard requires that regulated electric utilities should meet, through renewable energy sources, 15 per cent of their electricity requirements by 2015, and 20 per cent of their power needs by 2020.

The new project planned for New Mexico is larger than the 8.22-megawattt (DC) solar-power system that SunEdison had activated for Xcel Energy in Alamosa, Colorado, the United States, in December 2007.

The 50-megawattt project in New Mexico also will be one of the biggest solar-power projects in North America.