The California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) is a 250 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power plant in the Carrizo Plain, northeast of California Valley. The project is owned by NRG Energy, and SunPower is the EPC contractor and technology provider.
The project constructed on 1,966 acres (796 ha) of a 4,365-acre (1,766 ha) site of former grazing land.[3] It is utilizing high-efficiency, crystalline PV panels designed and manufactured by SunPower. The project includes up to 88,000 SunPower solar tracking devices to hold PV panels that track the sun across the sky.
Project overview
The project began construction in 2011, and began operation in 2012 with 22 MW completed. It was fully completed in October 2013.[4] At the time it was completed, "the California Valley Solar Ranch will power about 100,000 homes and will be one of the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants in the world".[5]
The project is being constructed on 1,966 acres (796 ha) of a 4,365-acre (1,766 ha) site of former grazing land.[3] It is utilizing high-efficiency, crystalline PV panels designed and manufactured by SunPower. The project includes up to 88,000 SunPower solar tracking devices to hold PV panels that track the sun across the sky. The project delivers approximately 550 gigawatt-hours (GW·h) annually of renewable energy and has a capacity of 250 MW.[6] While the plant only has a capacity factor of 25%, its power is generated during the middle of the day, when demand for electricity — and price — is much higher than at night.
Power Purchase Agreement
On August 14, 2008, Pacific Gas and Electric announced an agreement to buy all the power from the power plant.[7] A Conditional Use Permit application for the project was filed with the County of San Luis Obispo Planning and Building Department on January 14, 2009. On November 30, 2010, NRG Energy announced that it would buy CVSR from SunPower for "up to $450 million".[8] In September 2011, the Department of Energy (DOE) offered NRG Solar a $1.237 billion loan from the federal government to cover most of the construction cost.[9] The total cost of the project is estimated to be $1.6 billion.[10]
Panoramic view of construction, October 2012
Environment
The Carrizo Plain is home to 13 species listed as endangered either by the state or federal government, including the San Joaquin kit fox, giant kangaroo rat, and the California condor.[11] SunPower worked with the community to protect local wildlife habitat and migration patterns, and reduced the amount of traffic in the area during construction.[12] In 2012, it was reported that SunPower and First Solar had designed a plan to create a 19,000 acre reserve for the giant kangaroo rat, San Joaquin kit fox and golden eagle in order to address concerns about habitat destruction.[13]
Electricity production
Generation (MW·h) of California Valley Solar Ranch [14]
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
2012
4,014
4,190
5,504
8,019
21,727
2013
15,824
20,631
24,304
28,133
10,533
25,459
31,131
51,646
63,073
56,747
37,300
34,583
399,364
2014
35,851
36,710
54,654
66,210
78,967
84,024
77,526
74,398
60,789
50,939
36,701
27,634
684,403
2015
36,087
43,208
60,175
67,920
70,492
77,665
75,705
75,695
60,536
48,796
40,421
31,553
688,253
2016
27,064
48,485
58,571
63,317
71,275
80,545
82,609
74,310
63,259
44,720
37,633
28,008
679,796
2017
25,685
28,689
53,629
57,222
72,972
79,042
71,978
66,590
62,052
57,168
35,337
37,178
647,541
Average Annual Production (2014-2017
675,000
Incidents
A fire removed 84% of the generating capacity from service in 2019 when poles and cables were damaged by an "avian incident."[15]
^ Baker, David (2015-11-14). "Nuclear power's last stand in California: Will Diablo Canyon die?". San Francisco Chronicle. The California Valley Solar Ranch lies on a stretch of highway so remote that, ... Those panels, 750,000 in all, track east to west during the day, their movement almost imperceptible. Together, they can generate up to 250 megawatts of electricity, about 11 percent of Diablo's capacity. ... The $1.6 billion ranch represents one front in California's climate fight.
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