SunPower to begin construction on Solar Power Plant at U.S. Army Post Redstone Arsenal

SunPower Corp has announced that it expects to start construction this month on a 10 MW Redstone Arsenal photovoltaic solar power plant which is expected to generate up to 18,000 megawatt hours per year for the Redstone Arsenal U.S. army post in Alabama.

SunPower is delivering the energy from the plant under a power purchase agreement (PPA), allowing the army to buy 100 percent of the power generated by the plant and avoid the costs of power plant construction, maintenance and operation.

The innovative PPA will involve a 27-year Renewable Energy Services Agreement and lease with SunPower, which has designed the project, and will construct, operate and maintain it.

Under the power purchase agreement, SunPower will deliver approximately 18,000 megawatt hours of electricity to the army annually.

The plant will use Oasis technology, which is a fully-integrated, modular solar power block that is engineered for rapid and cost-effective deployment of utility-scale solar projects while optimizing land use.

Richard Kidd, deputy assistant secretary of the army (Energy and Sustainability), commented:

"The project substantially increases the amount of installed solar power in Alabama at no additional cost to consumers. It is also testament to what the Army can accomplish by working with industry stakeholders such as SunPower, local officials, and other partners such as the U.S Army Corps of Engineers and Redstone Arsenal."

Howard Wenger, SunPower president, business units, added:

"Solar is cost-competitive with traditional energy sources today, and is helping the U.S. military reduce operational costs. We commend Redstone Arsenal for managing its significant energy demand by relying on abundant, renewable solar power. The high performance SunPower® technology we are installing for the agency will maximize energy production over the long term."

We recently reported that Colbún S.A., the Chile state-owned utility company engaged in the electric power transmission segment, awarded also a 15-year power purchase agreement to SunPower for 500 gigawatt hours (GWh) of photovoltaic solar energy per year.