Scatec Solar to build 80 MW Utah solar park

Share

Scatec Solar is set to build an 80 MWac PV plant in the U.S. state of Utah.

The Norwegian solar company has secured the final approvals necessary for the project, which Scatec said will be located on a site with "excellent solar irradiation" in Utah's Iron County. The Utah Red Hills Renewable Energy Park will generate some 210 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, which will be fed into the grid under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with PacifiCorp.

The company expects to begin construction in the third quarter of the year. When complete, the plant will be one of Utah's largest solar energy generation facilities.

Scatec Solar CEO Raymond Carlsen said, "With our experience gained from PV projects around the world, our team is well prepared to take on the challenges associated with realizing this large-scale solar power plant — and we are grateful for the opportunity to bring our expertise to this first utility-scale PV project in Utah."

The Utah Public Service Commission and Iron County Community Development and Renewal Agency granted Scatec Solar the final approvals from the project ahead of construction start.

"Energy development is one of Utah's four cornerstones to continue to strengthen our economy," said Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert. "By supporting projects like the Red Hills Renewable Energy Park and other utility-scale renewable energy facilities, Utah will remain a premier destination for business, jobs, and an enviable quality of life for our residents."

Scatec Solar entered into the 20-year PPA with PacifiCorp for the purchase of all of the project's energy output and capacity in December 2013. PacifiCorp delivers electricity to customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho through its subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power.

"The Red Hills Renewable Energy Park represents a major step forward in providing Rocky Mountain Power access to the superb solar power potential available in Utah," said Luigi Resta, managing director of Scatec Solar North America.

"Rocky Mountain Power is committed to providing a bright energy future with renewable energy choices," said Richard Walje, Rocky Mountain Power president and CEO. "Our contract with the Red Hills Renewable Energy Park is one big step of many to come to bring renewable energy opportunities while maintaining reasonable prices for customers."

The plant is expected to generate approximately 210 million kilowatt hours in its first full year of operation — power equivalent to the annual consumption of approximately 18,500 homes. Based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates, it will produce enough renewable power to prevent nearly 150 thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually — the equivalent to removing nearly 28,000 cars from Utah's roads each year of the 20-year agreement.

The ground-mounted photovoltaic solar facility is being developed on approximately 650 acres (263 hectares) of privately-owned land in Parowan, Utah, it will deploy approximately 325,000 PV modules on a single-axis tracking system and interconnect to an existing PacifiCorp 138 kilovolt line in the adjacent Parowan Valley Substation.

In addition to the United States, Scatec Solar is currently developing utility-scale projects in Africa, Asia and Europe — including the recent completion of the 75 MW Kalkbult solar park in South Africa, currently the largest in Africa.

Popular content

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Share

Related content

Elsewhere on pv magazine...

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.