The Roserock Solar Facility is a 157
MWAC (212
MWp)
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- ...
in
Pecos County, Texas
Pecos County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 15,193. The county seat is Fort Stockton, Texas, Fort Stockton. The county was created in ...
. It was the largest solar project in Texas when completed in late 2016. The facility is dispersed over about 1300 acres of land already developed for oil and gas by
Apache Corporation
APA Corporation is the holding company for Apache Corporation, an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston. The company is ranked 431st on the Fortune 500.
Current operations
...
. It is located about a mile north of
Interstate-10, and 20 miles west of
Fort Stockton
Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways U.S. Route 67 (Texas), 67, U.S. Route 285 (Texas), 285, and U.S. R ...
.
Facility details
The project was developed by Recurrent Energy, which was acquired by the
Sharp Corporation
is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products, headquartered in Sakai-ku, Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. Since 2016 it has been majority owned by the Taiwan-based Foxconn Group. Sharp employs more than 5 ...
in late 2010. Recurrent Energy was subsequently acquired by the Chinese
photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
panel manufacturer
Canadian Solar
Canadian Solar Inc. is a publicly traded company that manufactures solar PV modules and runs large scale solar projects.
History
Founded in 2001 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada by Shawn Qu, Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) has subsidiaries in over 2 ...
in February 2015. Construction on the project was financed for about $275 million
and began in November 2015. The
engineering, procurement, and construction
Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts (a type of turnkey contract) are a form of contract used to undertake construction works by the private sector on large-scale and complex infrastructure projects.
Overview
Under an EPC co ...
contractor was McCarthy Building Companies and the project employed about 480 workers at its peak.
The project uses approximately 700,000 CS6X-P series panels (
polycrystalline
A crystallite is a small or even microscopic crystal which forms, for example, during the cooling of many materials. Crystallites are also referred to as grains.
Bacillite is a type of crystallite. It is rodlike with parallel longulites.
Stru ...
, ~300
Wp each)
from Canadian Solar that are mounted on single-axis
trackers.
It began sending electricity to the grid in late November 2016.
On November 30, 2016, Recurrent Energy sold a controlling interest in the completed facility to
Southern Power. The electricity is being sold to
Austin Energy
Austin Energy is a publicly owned utility providing electrical power to the city of Austin, Texas and surrounding areas. Established in 1895, the utility is a department of the City of Austin and returns its profits to the city's general fund to ...
under a 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 ...
.
Electricity production
See also
*
Solar power in Texas
*
List of photovoltaic power stations
The following is a list of photovoltaic power stations that are larger than 300 megawatts (MW) in current net capacity.Note that nominal power may be AC or DC, depending on the plant, and therefore any totals quoted are hybrid. SeAC-DC conundru ...
References
External links
Solar seeks to shine through Texas hurdlesVIDEO: Constructing the Roserock solar plant
{{Solar power in the United States
Buildings and structures in Pecos County, Texas
Photovoltaic power stations in the United States
Solar power stations in Texas
Energy infrastructure completed in 2016
2016 establishments in Texas