SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The North American Development Bank (NADB) and SunEdison LLC closed a US$35 million loan for the construction of a 16 megawatt (DC) solar park at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DMAFB), southeast of Tucson, Arizona. The electricity produced by the plant will be purchased by DMAFB under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement. Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP) will acquire the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) generated by the plant pursuant to a 20-year Master REC Agreement, aiding TEP in its compliance with Arizona’s Renewable Energy Standard.
The project will be constructed using 57,000 MEMC Silvantis™ solar modules mounted on single-axis trackers that will automatically follow the path of the sun during the day. The project will interconnect to DMAFB onsite and is expected to generate sufficient energy to offset about 50% of DMAFB’s electrical needs in its first year of operation. The project is scheduled to come online in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“This project will add to the 784 megawatts of installed renewable energy capacity that the Bank has helped develop and finance in the U.S.-Mexico border region,” stated NADB Managing Director, Geronimo Gutierrez. “The pipeline of projects under development by NADB continues to include renewable energy, along with transportation-related projects and basic water and wastewater infrastructure.”
The solar park will be built on approximately 144 acres and will be constructed pursuant to an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract provided by SunEdison.
“Adding distributed generation solar to the energy mix at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is an economically responsible way to take advantage of public land to produce clean energy and reduce electricity expenses for the Base,” said Attila Toth, General Manager of North America Distributed Generation Solutions for SunEdison. “We are pleased to work with NADB to bring this to the Southwestern United States and look forward to future projects.”
Estimated emission improvements include the avoidance of almost 17,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, 11 metric tons of nitrogen oxides and 17 metric tons of sulfur dioxide per year. The project is expected to generate electricity equivalent to the annual consumption of approximately 2,100 households.
The project was certified by the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) in November 2012.
About NADB
For more information about the Bank visit www.nadb.org.
About SunEdison
SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR), is a global leader in delivering solar power. The company develops, finances, installs and operates distributed power plants using proven photovoltaic technologies, delivering fully managed, predictably priced solar energy services for its commercial, government and utility customers. As of December 31, 2012, SunEdison had interconnected over 989 MW of solar electricity throughout the world. For more information about SunEdison please visit www.sunedison.com.
