Canadian Solar subsidiary Recurrent Energy has closed the sale of a 144MW photovoltaic project in Texas to Duke Energy Renewables.
The Pflugerville solar project, in Travis County, is under construction and is expected to achieve commercial operation in mid-2021.
The energy generated from Pflugerville will be sold to Austin Energy under a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA).
It is the fifth utility-scale PV project that Duke Energy Renewables has acquired from Recurrent Energy, including the Rambler solar project in Texas, which reached commercial operation in 2020.
Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Shawn Qu said: “The execution and sales process for this project was disrupted due to the Covid pandemic.
“However, we were nimble and quickly secured the financing to start construction and close the sale on time. To complete this transaction in 2020 is quite an achievement and I thank our teams and partners for their dedication and hard work.”
Qu added: “We have a long-standing relationship with Duke Energy Renewables and are pleased that they have become the new owners of Pflugerville Solar, as it is a landmark project that will power local homes in the Austin area, supporting the clean energy transition as the Lone Star State continues to diversify its energy mix.”
This project’s PPA supports Austin Energy’s renewable energy goals, which commit the utility to achieve at least 55% renewable energy by 2025, and 65% renewable energy by the end of 2027.
The project also supports Duke Energy’s goals of doubling its renewable energy resources by the end of 2025.
The Pflugerville solar PV plant will use approximately 489,600 of Canadian solar’s bifacial modules.
The engineering and construction for the project is being performed by Signal Energy.
To support the construction of the project, in August Recurrent Energy closed debt and tax equity financing totalling over $234m.
The tax equity financing was provided by US Bank and the debt financing was provided by a bank club led by CIT Bank, which included Norddeutsche Landesbank, Rabobank and Zions Bank.
Duke Energy Renewables will provide the long-term operations and maintenance services to the project.
The project is expected to employ 350 workers at peak construction, with at least 50% of those construction jobs expected to be filled by local skilled tradespeople from the Travis County area.