3 May 2011

Constellation acquires 30MW CdTe solar project from Belectric

Constellation Energy of Baltimore, MD, USA has acquired a 30MW DC (25MW AC) solar generation project in Sacramento, CA, from utility-grade photovoltaic (PV) power plant developer Belectric Inc of Newark, CA, USA (the North American arm of Belectric, which is ranked the world's largest systems integrator, with 330MW of PV power plants installed in 2010).

The system will consist of about 381,000 cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film PV panels made by First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA, ground-mounted at multiple sites near the city of Sacramento. Constellation will own and operate the system and sell the electricity generated from it to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD, the USA’s sixth largest publicly owned utility) under ten, 20-year power purchase agreements. The project is expected to be commercially operational by the end of 2011.

The transaction was arranged by finance and investment firm Smart Energy Capital LLC of White Plains, NY, which is focused exclusively on the North American solar photovoltaic industry.

“This utility-scale generation project is an attractive opportunity for Constellation Energy to grow its existing solar portfolio,” says Andrew Good, senior VP of corporate strategy & development. The project will help to provide a long-term source of emissions-free electricity to more than half a million customers in SMUD’s service territory, he adds.

The project is among the first to be installed under SMUD’s feed-in tariff program, says Belectric Inc’s president & chief operating officer David Taggart. “For the past 18 months, the Belectric team has worked closely with SMUD, Sacramento County and local land owners to develop this project, which clearly demonstrates the competitiveness of Belectric’s integrated thin-film PV system design,” he adds.

With this latest acquisition, Constellation Energy now owns and operates about 95MW of solar installations either completed or under construction throughout the USA.

Tags: First Solar Thin-film photovoltaic CdTe

Visit: www.firstsolar.com

Visit: www.constellation.com