UNITED STATES : Austin Energy Activates 30 MW Solar Farm

Austin Energy along with Austin City Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Village of Webberville Mayor Hector Gonzales today cut the ribbon on a 30 megawatt (MW) solar power plant located within the Village of Webberville, Texas. The project marks the first utility-scale solar-energy resource for Austin Energy and helps bring the utility one step closer to achieving a 35% renewable energy mix by 2020. It is the largest active solar project of any public power utility in the country, the largest active project in Texas and among the largest of all operating solar projects in America. The project began generating power on December 20, 2011.

The ribbon cutting event was held at the 380 acre photovoltaic solar farm. The 30 MW solar project is comprised of more than 127,000 photovoltaic solar modules mounted on single-axis trackers that follow the sun to maximize solar energy production. The utility-scale project is expected to produce more than 61 million kilowatt-hours of clean solar energy in the first year of operation alone.

"The Webberville Solar Project exemplifies Austin s leadership and investment in a clean energy future," said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell. "The City of Austin is proud to support a project that reduces emission levels in our community, provides energy during hot summer days when it is needed most and promotes new technologies that future generations can benefit from."

The utility-scale solar project was made possible through a 25-year solar power purchase agreement through which Austin Energy will purchase the energy at a fixed rate along with the renewable energy credits.

It is expected the 30 MW solar project will generate more than 1.4 billion kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy over 25 years. That is enough energy to power more than 136,000 average U.S. homes (5,000 homes per year) while offsetting more than 1.6 billion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5715391201&w=2390512

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