Construction began this week on the Pflugerville Solar Project, a utility-scale solar project with 144 megawatts of capacity, approved by the Austin City Council in 2018.
With the approval and support of Council, Austin Energy entered into the long-term Power Purchase Agreement with Canadian Solar Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Recurrent Energy, LLC to purchase the renewable energy generated from the plant reported Austin Energy.
The Pflugerville Solar Project will provide low-cost solar power to Austin Energy’s customers for 15 years following the start of operation. The project brings Austin Energy’s solar capacity to nearly 966 megawatts.
The project is unique due to its close proximity to Austin, helping Austin Energy build up its local solar portfolio economically.
“Austin Energy is thankful for the support from City Council to bring these resources to our customers. We are thrilled about this partnership with Recurrent Energy on the Pflugerville Solar Project,” said Jackie Sargent, Austin Energy General Manager. “The project not only expands our renewable portfolio and advances our climate protection goals, it is located close to our customer base. It’s affordable and enables us to continue to demonstrate Austin Energy’s fiscal responsibility and environmental leadership. This project is a win-win.”
Currently, about 40 percent of customers’ energy needs are met with renewable resources as Austin Energy continues to move toward carbon-free power. With this latest addition, the Utility is expected to become 52 percent renewable in 2021, edging the utility closer to its council directed goal of 65 percent renewable energy by 2027.
The agreement does not require Austin Energy to invest any funds in the construction, operation, or maintenance of the project, which is expected to be operational in 2021. Austin Energy has the option to purchase the solar facility at a future date.
Source: Austin Energy