Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

First Solar’s AV Solar Ranch One moving forward

The vast 230-megawatt (MW) Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One project, supplied and installed by First Solar, is back on track, after an agreement was reached between the company and LA County, on the installation of its modules. The agreement will allow First Solar to continue construction on the plant, which is set to be completed in 2013.

Construction on the utility-scale power plant is set to ramp up over the coming weeks.

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With a project as vast as the Solar Ranch One, located in the Antelope Valley in Kern County, First Solar needed the project to progress smoothly and without major delays. There have previously been delays in the project’s construction permit which in turn delayed a US$646 million Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee for the project.

However news today that an agreement regarding building codes and health and safety requirements has been reached with local officials should allow the project to go ahead. The sale of the project, to Exelon, was previously in doubt over the delays in the DOE guarantee. It was resolved when the loan's funding began on April 5.

Work on the Antelope Valley project, in the south of California, began in August 2011 and the 400 workers on the project had been furloughed while the county approvals were pending. First Solar said that it now expects staffing to ramp up over the next few weeks.

First Solar’s Jim Lamon said that the collaborative process leading to the agreement will pave the way for the development of future projects. "As the first utility-scale solar PV project in Los Angeles County, this was the county's first opportunity to apply its codes to a facility of this magnitude, which required significant time and effort for everyone involved," Lamon said.