The Springbok Solar Farm is a 443 MW_p (350 MW_AC)

photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

in the northwestern

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

, near

California City California City is a city located in northern Antelope Valley in Kern County, California, United States. It is north of the city of Los Angeles, and the population was 14,973 at the 2020 census. Covering , California City has the third-larg ...

in eastern

Kern County, California Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

. 8minutenergy.com: Solar Projects website
/ref> The facility was developed and constructed by

8minutenergy Renewables Avantus, formerly known as ''8minute Solar Energy'', is an American photovoltaic (PV) developer of utility-scale PV power plants and energy storage. Founded in 2009 by Tom Buttgenbach and Martin Hermann, it was acquired by KKR fifteen years late ...

in three phases. It is among the country's largest PV solar farms with a capacity of about 440 MW_p (350 MW_AC).

Facility details

The project was developed by 8minutenergy, one of the largest independent solar power developers in the United States. The three Springbok solar facilities combined generate enough clean, renewable energy to serve more than 152,000 households. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided is comparable to removing nearly 150,000 cars from the road. The power from all three projects is contracted to the

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal Public utility, utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021–2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of wat ...

Project units

The Springbok Solar Farm consists of 3 project units, or construction phases: *Springbok 1 Solar Project — a 137 MW_dc (105 MW_AC) solar power station using

photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commerciall ...

. Construction on the site began in 2015 and was completed in July 2016.8minutenergy.com: "Springbok 1 Solar Project breaks ground"
/ref> * Springbok 2 Solar Project — a 191 MW_dc (155 MW_AC) solar power station also using photovoltaics which was completed in September 2016 on an additional 700 acres.8minutenergy.com: "Power purchase agreement to develop Springbok 2 Solar Project"
/ref> * Springbok 3 Solar Project — a 115 MW_dc (90 MW_AC) solar power station using photovoltaics completed in July 2019.Table 6.3. New Utility Scale Generating Units by Operating Company, Plant, and Month, 2019, Electric Power Monthly, U.S. Energy Information Administration, September 24, 2019
/ref>

Electricity production

Springbok Solar 1 nameplate capacities: 137 MW_dc, 105 MW_ac
annual net output: 299 GW·h (avg 2017)
capacity factor: 32.5% Springbok Solar 2 nameplate capacities: 191 MW_dc, 155 MW_ac
annual net output: 418 GW·h (avg 2017)
capacity factor: 30.8%

References

{{Solar power in the United States Solar power in the Mojave Desert Buildings and structures in Kern County, California Solar power stations in California Photovoltaic power stations in the United States

Facility details

Project units

Electricity production

See also

References