Mount Signal Solar, also known as Imperial Valley Solar Project, is a 794 MW_p (614 MW_AC) photovoltaic power station west of

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, in the southern

Imperial Valley , photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg , photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image. , map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg , map_caption = Map of Imperial ...

, near the Mexican border. The facility is being developed and constructed by

8minutenergy Renewables 8minute Solar Energy is an American photovoltaic (PV) developer of utility-scale PV power plants and energy storage. It has developed solar farms that includes Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar Farm which is a 420 MWp (300 MWAC) photovoltaic po ...

in three phases, with two completed as of 2018. At full build-out, it will be one of the world's largest PV solar farms with a capacity of about 800 MW_p (600 MW_AC). The project has been supported by several environmental groups, as the power station was built on low productivity farmland.

History

Originally the project was called SES Solar Two, was to be of

Stirling engine A Stirling engine is a heat engine that is operated by the cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas (the ''working fluid'') between different temperatures, resulting in a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. More specif ...

design, and was approved by

California Energy Commission The California Energy Commission, formally the Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, is the primary energy policy and planning agency for California. Created in 1974 and headquartered in Sacramento, the Commission'core respon ...

on September 29, 2010. AES Solar subsequently changed the name to Imperial Valley Solar, but later notified the commission on June 30, 2011 of its intention to no longer pursue the project. AES Solar and 8minuteenergy Renewables subsequently announced on February 17, 2012 their plan to revive the project, changing the technology from

solar thermal Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United S ...

to photovoltaic, and changing the project name to Mount Signal Solar. The first phase started construction in 2012 and went online in 2014, providing 266 MW_p (206 MW_AC) to

San Diego Gas & Electric San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States. It is owned by Sempra, a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Di ...

under a 25-year agreement. More than 3 million

thin-film A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...

CdTe photovoltaic modules from

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of solar panels, and a provider of utility-scale PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses rigid thi ...

and 138 skids designed and manufactured by Elettronica Santerno are used. It was the world's largest solar project using single-axis trackers to follow the path of the sun upon completion. The cost for this first unit was $365million. Phases two and three consist of 200 MW_p and 328 MW_p of power, respectively, on contracted to

Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of ap ...

. Phase 2 is expected to be commissioned by 2020, while Phase 3 went online in July 2018. Phase 3 consists of 2.8 million Series 4 thin film panels from

Project units

The Mount Signal Solar Farm consists of three units, or construction phases: *Mount Signal 1 – a 266 MW_DC (206 MW_AC)

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

station using

photovoltaics 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 ...

. Construction on the site began in November 2012 and was completed in May 2014. *Mount Signal 2 – 200 MW_DC (154 MW_AC)

station also using

on approximately which was commissioned in January 2020. *Mount Signal 3 – a 328 MW_DC (254 MW_AC)

station using

on completed in July 2018. American solar PV manufacture
First Solar
provided its Series 4 thin-film solar panels for the project, an
NEXTracker
supplied its NX Horizon smart solar tracker systems.8minutenergy Turns On Phases 1 & 2 Of 328 Megawatt Mount Signal 3 Solar Farm
CleanTechnica, Joshua S Hill, July 12, 2018

Electricity production

Mount Signal 1 nameplate capacities: 260 MW_dc, 206 MW_ac
annual net output: 537 GW·h (avg 2015–2017)
capacity factor: 29.7%

References

External links

8minutenergy – Solar Projects
{{Solar power in the United States Solar power stations in California Photovoltaic power stations in the United States Calexico, California Colorado Desert El Centro metropolitan area Imperial Valley SunEdison Infrastructure completed in 2014 2014 establishments in California

History

Project units

Electricity production

See also

References

External links