The Escalante Solar Project is a 240 MW_AC (315 MW_p)

photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

located about 5 miles north of the town of

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

Beaver County, Utah Beaver County is a county in west central Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 6,629. Its county seat and largest city is Beaver. The county was named for the abundance of beaver in the area. History Ex ...

. The project was developed by

SunEdison SunEdison, Inc. (formerly MEMC Electronic Materials) is a renewable energy company headquartered in the U.S. In addition to developing, building, owning, and operating solar power plants and wind energy plants, it also manufactures high purity po ...

, built by Mortenson Construction, and commissioned in September 2016. The power is being sold under three separate 20-year

power purchase agreement A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...

s to

Rocky Mountain Power PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the western United States. PacifiCorp has two business units: # Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington. ...

which serves customers in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. At 1900 acres (3.0 sq miles), it is the largest grouping of photovoltaic generators in the state of Utah.

Project details

The project is located adjacent to the 306 MW

Milford Wind The Milford Wind Corridor Project, also called Milford Wind, is a 306 megawatt (MW) wind farm spanning Beaver and Millard County north of Milford, Utah. It became the state's largest wind facility when the first phase was completed in 20 ...

facility. Planning was initiated by the independent renewable energy developer

First Wind First Wind is an independent renewable energy company. It develops and operates utility-scale power projects in the United States. It employs more than 220 workers. Headquartered in Boston, the company developed and operated renewable energy pr ...

(founded 2002) which began expanding into photovoltaic energy around 2012. The Escalante project comprises the majority of the 320 MW Four Brothers Project, which includes the three co-located 80 MW Escalante units and the 80 MW

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

unit located 25 miles west of

Cedar City, Utah Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. It is located south of Salt Lake City, and north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Summer Gam ...

Iron County Iron County is the name of four counties in the United States: *Iron County, Michigan *Iron County, Missouri *Iron County, Utah *Iron County, Wisconsin Iron County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, t ...

. The land area for each unit ranges from 600 to 700 acres. First Wind and its extensive portfolio of assets in western Utah were acquired by SunEdison and its TerraForm Power

yield co A yield co or yieldco is a company that is formed to own operating assets that produce a predictable cash flow, primarily through long term contracts. Separating volatile activities (such as development, R&D, construction) from stable activities of ...

in November 2014. Beginning construction at the time was the 20.2 MW Seven Sisters Project, a dispersed set of ~3 MW facilities throughout Beaver and Iron counties. To finance construction of Four Brothers, SunEdison entered into a joint venture with

Dominion Resources Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is a North American power and energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas t ...

. The resulting entity, Dominion Renewable Energy, utilized $150 million from SunEdison and $500 million from Dominion to start construction in July 2015. Likewise, the two companies extended their joint venture to construct the 210 MW Three Cedars Project, which consists of three similarly sized facilities dispersed to the west of Cedar City, on about the same timeline. Four Brothers was built by Mortenson Construction. SunEdison provided about 1.3 million

crystalline silicon Crystalline silicon or (c-Si) Is the crystalline forms of silicon, either polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si, consisting of small crystals), or monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si, a continuous crystal). Crystalline silicon is the dominant semicondu ...

solar panels from its team of international suppliers. Work progressed simultaneously at all four sites, employed an estimated 500 workers, and was completed in September 2016. Along with the electricity to power about 90,000 homes, Four Brothers is expected to produce $66 million in property and income taxes for the region over 20 years. The completed facilities are operated and maintained by

Swinerton Renewable Energy Swinerton is a commercial construction company that provides services in the United States for commercial office, retail, multi-family residential, hospitality, healthcare, education, energy, and the entertainment sectors. The company also provide ...

. SunEdison filed for Chapter 11

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection on April 21, 2016, but was able to complete the project on time with its receipt of $300 million in bankruptcy debt financing. On September 13, 2016 the company was forced to sell its stake in the completed facilities in a

fire sale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventory ...

NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in energ ...

was the successful bidder.

Electricity production

References

{{Solar power in the United States Photovoltaic power stations in the United States Solar power stations in Utah Buildings and structures in Beaver County, Utah NRG Energy Dominion Energy

Project details

Electricity production

See also

References