RWE Renewables has begun construction of a 195MW solar project that includes a 40MW battery in Georgia in the US.
The Hickory Park solar-storage project, located in Mitchell County, is due online in late 2021.
RWE will operate and manage the facility, selling the energy and renewable attributes from the facility to utility Georgia Power through its Renewable Energy Development Initiative programme.
The company announced in November 2019 it entered into a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Georgia Power for Hickory Park.
Georgia Power chief operating officer Silvia Ortin said: “We are extremely pleased to have a project of this size in Georgia under construction.
“We look forward to working with Georgia Power, a company that’s committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to advance solar in Georgia.”
When complete, the Hickory Park solar power plant will interconnect more than 650,000 solar panels and the DC-coupled battery will allow the project’s energy yield to be optimised and increase the predictability of injection solar power into the grid.
RWE Renewables CEO Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath said: “The Hickory Park solar plant will mark our first solar facility in Georgia and our largest solar plus storage project in the US to date.
“The addition of this facility to our operating portfolio is just one example of RWE’s strong focus on the US market and its growing ambition in solar and battery storage.
“The co-location of a solar plant along with storage provides us flexibility in finding solutions to fulfil the energy requirements of our customers.”