Three Cedars Solar Project is a 210 MW_AC (265 MW_p)

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 ...

consisting of three units extending about 15 miles northwest of

Cedar City, Utah Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. Located south of Salt Lake City, it is north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 in Utah, Interstate 15. Southern Utah University is located in Cedar City. It is the home of the Ut ...

. The project was developed by

SunEdison SunEdison, Inc. (formerly MEMC Electronic Materials) is a renewable energy company headquartered in the U.S. In addition to developing, building, owning, and operating solar power plants and wind energy plants, it also manufactures high-purity ...

, built with its global team of partners, and commissioned in September 2016. The electricity and renewable energy credits are being sold to

Rocky Mountain Power PacifiCorp is an electric power company based in the Lloyd Center Tower in Portland, Oregon with operations in the western United States. PacifiCorp has two business units: Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory thro ...

under three separate 20-year power purchase agreements.

Project details

The project consists of three separate units distributed on private land along the headwaters of Iron Springs Creek at a sunny and cool elevation near 6,000 feet. Planning was initiated by the independent renewable energy developer

First Wind First Wind was an independent renewable energy company. It developed and operated utility-scale power projects in the United States. At its height, First Wind employed more than 220 workers. Headquartered in Boston, the company developed and ope ...

(founded 2002) which began expanding into photovoltaic energy around 2012. First Wind and its extensive portfolio of assets in western Utah were acquired by SunEdison and its TerraForm Power yield co in November 2014. Beginning construction at the time was the 20.2 MW Seven Sisters Project, a dispersed set of ~3 MW facilities throughout Beaver and Iron counties. To finance the construction of Three Cedars, SunEdison entered into a joint venture with

Dominion Resources Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is an American energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas to parts of Ut ...

. The resulting entity, Dominion Renewable Energy, utilized $80 million from SunEdison and $320 million from Dominion to start construction in September 2015. The two companies also previously entered a joint venture to construct the 320 MW Four Brothers Project, which includes the three co-located 80 MW Escalante units in Beaver County and the 80 MW

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

unit in Iron County, on about the same timeline. Construction of Three Cedars progressed simultaneously at all three sites, created an estimated 250 local construction jobs, and was completed by October 2016. Along with the electricity to power more than 36,000 homes, it is expected to produce $17 million in property and income taxes for the region over 20 years. The project is operated and maintained by Swinerton Renewable Energy. SunEdison filed for Chapter 11

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

protection on April 21, 2016, but was able to complete the project on time with its receipt of $300 million in bankruptcy debt financing. On September 13, 2016 the company was forced to sell its stake in the completed facilities in a

fire sale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventor ...

NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in energ ...

was the successful bidder.

Electricity production

References

{{Solar power in the United States Photovoltaic power stations in the United States Solar power stations in Utah Buildings and structures in Iron County, Utah Energy infrastructure completed in 2016

Project details

Electricity production

See also

References