California & Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) January 28, 2015 -- 8minutenergy Renewables, LLC – the nation's leading independent solar PV developer – and sPower – a prominent renewable energy provider – today announced that construction will begin in Q1 2015 on three solar facilities in the 72.9MW-dc Redwood Solar Farm cluster located in Kern County, Calif. 8minutenergy, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries 65HK 8me, LLC, 67RK 8me LLC, and 87RL 8me, LLC will team with sPower, its partner on the projects, to build Redwood Solar Farms with a Commercial Operation Date (COD) in June to August 2015.
Redwood Solar Farms has signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with Southern California Edison (SCE), Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the City of Palo Alto, Calif. The construction of the first three solar facilities in 8minutenergy's Redwood Solar Farm cluster in Kern County include: 65HK 8me, LLC (Hayworth Solar Farm, 33.26MW-dc), 67RK 8me, LLC (Redcrest Solar Farm, 20.86MW-dc) and 87RL 8me, LLC (Woodmere Solar Farm, 18.75MW-dc).
A fourth project in Kern County, the 133 MW-dc (100 megawatts-ac) Springbok Solar Farm, is being developed by 8minutenergy through its wholly-owned subsidiary, 62SK 8me, LLC. Springbok has signed a PPA with the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), on behalf of its participating member, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
"We are pleased to work with sPower to build the first three projects in the Redwood Solar Farm cluster," said Martin Hermann, chief executive officer of 8minutenergy Renewables. "We look forward to completing construction and to delivering clean renewable power. We are excited about developing the remaining capacity of our other solar projects in Kern County."
"We believe renewable energy development is a “local skill set," said Ryan Creamer, sPower’s CEO. "The projects we’ll develop with 8minutenergy will provide construction and operations jobs and revenues for local communities – all while helping to reduce carbon emissions and delivering affordable, sustainable energy to California rate payers."
The Redwood Solar Farm projects are sited on 345 acres of low-productivity farmland. When fully operational, their annual production capacity of 146 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity will provide enough clean renewable energy for more than 9,200 homes. The solar farms are expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 100,000 metric tons annually – the equivalent of removing 21,000 cars from the road each year.1
"8minutenergy is thrilled that our close collaboration with sPower and Kern County officials is bringing these projects to fruition," said Tom Buttgenbach, president of 8minutenergy Renewables. "We are proud that the Redwood Solar Farm cluster will generate hundreds of jobs and millions in tax and other revenue for Kern County, and of our support for community programs in the area. We look forward to developing the Redwood Solar cluster, and Springbok Solar Farm as well."
Graduates of Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries' solar panel installation training and certification program will provide some of the labor for the projects in Kern County through a partnership between 8minutenergy and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 428. Homeboy Industries serves formerly high-risk, gang-involved men and women with a continuum of free services and programs, and operates seven job-training sites.
The solar power systems for Redwood Solar Farms will be comprised of state-of-the-art solar photovoltaic modules, related power electronics, and other components including an advanced tracking system that follows the sun to maximize energy production. Macquarie Capital’s Power, Utilities and Renewables team advised on the project and, along with 8minutenergy, provided the development capital. CohnReznick Capital Markets was co-advisor.
About sPower
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, with offices in San Francisco and New York City, sPower is a leading independent power producer (IPP) that owns and/or operates more than 130 utility and distributed electrical generation systems across the United States. With greater than a gigawatt between construction and pipeline, sPower is active in developing renewable assets in any stage of development in North America and the UK. sPower is a portfolio company of Fir Tree Partners, a leading global investment fund with more than 20 years of investing history and approximately $13 billion of capital under management. http://www.spower.com.
About 8minutenergy Renewables, LLC
8minutenergy Renewables develops, finances, engineers, constructs, holds, operates and maintains solar projects. To date, 8minutenergy Renewables has been awarded over 1,150 MW in PPAs; secured more than 1,200 MW in General Interconnection Agreements (GIA); obtained Conditional Use Permits (CUP) for more than 10,000 acres; and has 15,000 acres of land under contract. 8minutenergy has offices in Los Angeles, Folsom, San Francisco, San Diego and El Centro, California. For more information, please call (916) 608-9060, send email to [email protected] or visit http:// http://www.8minutenergy.com.
1 - U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, based on 146,262,000 kWh annual system production
Media Contacts:
8minutenergy Renewables
Kent Streeb
P: 530.908.9225
[email protected]
sPower
Naomi Keller
P: 801.679.3514
[email protected]
Kent Streeb, 8minutenergy Renewables, http://www.8minutenergy.com, +1 (530) 908-9225, [email protected]
SOURCE 8minutenergy Renewables
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