Photo: ContourGlobal
A 450 megawatt (MW) solar park with a huge battery system is currently under construction in Arizona, and Tesla has already obtained around 90% of its expected electrical output.
ContourGlobal held a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 6 for the Sterling Project, about 20 miles north of Lake Havasu City in Mohave County. The project will cover more than 2,000 acres in the Mojave Desert and is expected to come online in 2028.
Sterling will combine more than 760,000 solar panels with more than 300 battery storage containers. Its solar panels will have a combined capacity of 509 MW DC, with 450 MW of AC capacity after grid conversion.
The batteries will deliver up to 360 MW and store around 1.4 gigawatt-hours of electricity, enough to discharge at full power for around four hours. ContourGlobal says solar and storage will allow Sterling to supply clean electricity for up to 16 hours a day.
The system uses liquid-cooled lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries with integrated fire protection.
Once online, Sterling is expected to generate more than 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually. Tesla’s long-term power purchase agreement covers about 1 TWh per year, plus associated renewable energy certificates, representing 90% of the expected annual output of the Arizona solar and battery storage plant. Sterling will become ContourGlobal’s largest renewable energy asset worldwide.
Electricity also has a route to California. Sterling will connect to the Western Area Power Administration’s grid and has secured transmission rights in the California Independent System Operator’s electricity market.
ContourGlobal expects construction to employ about 400 workers through 2028. Local teams will handle civil works, roads and site logistics, including a new 5.2-mile (8.4 km) access road connecting the project to historic Route 66.
The privately financed project also secured an equity bridge loan from a group of international banks to help finance ContourGlobal’s investment during construction.
Read more: California gives the green light to solar installation for balconies
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