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EDF Renewables North America has announced that the Palen Solar site, located in Riverside County, California, is fully operational and delivering energy to the grid.
The site consists of four projects totaling 620MW of solar PV plus 200MWh of battery energy storage.
The projects include:
Maverick 1: 173 MWdc (125 MWac),
Maverick 4: 137 MWdc (100 MWac),
Maverick 6: 131 MWdc (100 MWac) plus 200 MWh (50 MW) battery storage,
Maverick 7: 179 MWdc (132 MWac).
The projects are located adjacent to each other on unincorporated land administered by the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The area is Solar Energy Zone (SEZ) and Development Focus Area, land set aside for utility-scale renewable energy development.
The projects combined will generate enough power to meet the consumption of up to 217,000 California homes and will avoid more than 1 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually.
Benoit Rigal, senior vice president, implementation & projects management for EDF Renewables North America, said in a statement, “The Maverick projects are the cornerstone of our large-scale solar and storage growth and expertise. The renewable energy industry has experienced significant volatility over the past years battling both unprecedented pandemic and supply chain constraints. We are excited to now have all four projects operating at full capacity and to contribute to California’s climate goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.”
Construction activity commenced in early 2020 with Maverick 1 and Maverick 4, followed by Maverick 6 and Maverick 7 in early 2021.
EDF Renewables’ Asset Optimisation group will perform operations and maintenance services for the life of the project. The group will provide NERC compliance support, remote monitoring, and balance-of-plant management to maximise power production.
