Atlanta-based Southern Co.’s wholesale power unit is buying a large solar farm in Southern California, doubling the company’s renewable-energy output in the southwest.
Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy said Tuesday they will buy the Campo Verde Solar Project from Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar, the world’s largest maker of thin-film solar panels.
This is the second deal between the Southern Power-Turner partnership and First Solar. It is the fifth solar acquisition for Southern Power and Ted Turner’s Turner Renewable Energy company since 2010.
The Campo Verde project is expected to produce enough electricity to power 48,000 homes, the companies said.
First Solar started building the solar farm in 2012 and expects to complete it by the fall of this year. The company has agreed to operate the project for 10 years.
The Southern Power-Turner partnership will sell Campo Verde’s solar electricity to San Diego Gas & Electric Co. as part of a 20-year deal.
Unlike Southern-owned Georgia Power and other regulated utilities, the Southern Power-Turner partnership sells electricity in the competitive wholesale energy market. The partnership previously bought a total of 70 megawatts in Nevada and New Mexico and a 2.5 megawatt solar farm in North Carolina.
One MW of solar power can provide enough electricity for a large department store.
