Lowest public solar power contract in the United States: 2.49¢/kWh

The latest hot trend? Replacing coal plants with solar.

On June 7th, another step was taken as the governing body for the Central Arizona Project, a massive water diversion project that is the largest electricity user in the state, approved a 20-year power purchase agreement with the 30 MW AZ Solar 1 project at 2.49¢/kWh (PDF). The agreement was noted by Arizona regulators as being part of the expected shutdown of the Navajo Generating Station, one of the nation’s largest running coal power plants. The contract starts on December 31, 2020.

Significant contention surrounds shutting down the plant as the Navajo tribe gains significant financial gain from hosting the plant, and the jobs that come from running the site.

Emma Foehringer Merchant, writing for Greentech Media, reported that the solar plant plus other 5-year energy contracts will offset only 14% of the coal facility’s production capability. However, the coal plant is delivering said power at 5¢/kWh, twice the per-unit cost of the new solar project.

GTM also notes that an Austin deal might have a price as low as 2.1¢/kWh, but those numbers aren’t official as the contract isn’t publicly disclosed.

The 30 MW plant is under development by Origis Energy USA, which will also own the plant. AZ Solar 1 is contracted to deliver an estimated 85,300 MWh. This would denote an AC capacity factor of 32%, and a DC capacity factor ranging of anywhere from 19-27% with DC:AC ratios of 1.7 and 1.2, respectively.

While the module vendor for this plant is unclear, Origis has built plants in the past using both First Solar and standard 72-cell crystalline silicon modules, along with both fixed-mount and single axis tracker configurations.

Xcel Energy of Colorado recently proposed a of a bit of coal in Pueblo for some serious solar+storage volume at amazing prices as well. The solar power bids ranged from 2.3-2.7¢/kWh, while solar plus storage ranged from 3.0-3.2¢/kWh. While it makes for an imperfect comparison as solar project costs vary, the solar vs solar+storage delta is 0.5-0.8¢/kWh.

Hot trend of the season, indeed.