EDF Renewables North America‘s Palen Solar site is fully operational and delivering decarbonized energy to the grid. The site consists of four projects totaling 620 MWDC of solar and 200 MWh of energy storage.
The projects, using single-axis tracking technology, are located adjacent to each other on unincorporated land in Riverside County, California, managed by the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM designated this area as a Solar Energy Zone (SEZ) and Development Focus Area, land set aside for utility-scale renewable energy development.
The four projects composing Palen Solar are:
- Maverick 1: 173 MWDC
- Maverick 4: 137 MWDC
- Maverick 6: 131 MWDC + 200 MWh (50 MW) battery storage
- Maverick 7: 179 MWDC
The projects combined generate enough decarbonized energy to meet the consumption of up to 217,000 average California homes.
Construction activity commenced in early 2020 with Maverick 1 and Maverick 4, followed by Maverick 6 and Maverick 7 in early 2021. The projects were completed in sequence starting in December 2020. At peak construction, the sites employed over 500 personnel, most of whome were local to Riverside County.
“The Maverick projects are the cornerstone of our large-scale solar and storage growth and expertise,” said Benoit Rigal, senior VP of implementation and projects management for EDF Renewables North America. “The renewable energy industry has experienced significant volatility over the past years battling both unprecedented pandemic and supply chain constraints. We are excited to now have all four projects operating at full capacity and to contribute to California’s climate goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.”
EDF Renewables’ Asset Optimization group will perform operations and maintenance services for the life of the Project. The group will provide NERC compliance support, remote monitoring and balance-of-plant management to maximize power production.
EDF Renewables North America
Robert says
I have been trying to inform people that the United States could build enough (450 megawatt) heliostat powerplants (1,700) to fuel the most of the nation’s commercial, private, and public electricity demand (765 Gigawatts) for one trillion dollars. It’s an investment we must make!
Solarman says
Therein lies another “problem” with solar PV farms. In the Riverside County area since 2003 the solar farm has changed when one company went bankrupt and another took over the development (area). Palen was originally supposed to be CSP heliostat with two power towers to genenerate and store energy as molten salt. The fail of Crescent CSP and troubles with Ivanpah in Nevada put a hold on the Palen project until the developer and investors balked. Another company buys in and constructs the latest solar PV with energy storage design.
The problem I see here is just maybe 20 miles away the McCoy Solar PV farm has been built to 250MWac and yet was vetted and accepted that 10,000 acres would be used for a 1GWp solar PV farm. IF the powers that be would revisit this site, put in the most efficient panels, use east/west solar PV tracking (and) add a huge redox flow battery on the order of say 10GWh, one would have the ability to dispatch say 500MWh for 20 hours, 250MWh for 40 hours and not need to have fueled generation online in emergency or standby mode of operation to address grid load demands. Crying about energy efficiency, but allowing old projects to faulter and fall by the wayside is just as egregious.