US energy company Sempra Generation has entered into a 25-year purchase power agreement with utility the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for the sale of electricity from the 150MW expansion of Sempra's Copper Mountain Solar facility in Nevada.
First Solar has been selected to supply ground mounted photovoltaic (PV) modules for the project and will also act as engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the development. Construction is expected to begin next year with the first 92MW to be installed by January 2013 with the remainder scheduled for 2015.
Jeffrey Martin, CEO of Sempra Generation, said, 'Copper Mountain Solar 2 is another exciting step forward on our plan to construct 1,000 megawatts of additional renewable capacity by 2015. We couldn't be more pleased to move forward with PG&E and First Solar on our third and largest solar project in Nevada, which will deliver a new supply of clean power to California consumers.'
Fong Wan, senior vice president for procurement for PG&E, added, 'Copper Mountain Solar 2 is a great opportunity for PG&E to continue down the path toward a clean energy future - a vision we share with our customer. We are delighted to be part of this partnership that will allow us to deliver more green power to meet our customers' long-term electricity needs.'
Sempra Generation is the electricity production arm of Sempra Energy, in June it secured a $359m loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy to support the development of a project in Arizona.
First Solar recently became the latest PV manufacturer to experience a decline in revenues due to falling prices and a tightening market.