The 44 MW California project will generate $18 million in energy savings for commercial and residential subscribers, bringing solar to many who otherwise would not have access.
Dimension Energy, a community solar developer, owner, and operator, completed construction of what is currently the largest third party-owned community solar projects in the United States.
The 44 MW project, located in Inyokern, California, will provide clean energy in the Southern California Edison region. The community solar project will serve over 2,000 households, municipal facilities in the cities of Long Beach and Corona, and commercial offtakers including AT&T and Crown Castle.
The installation includes JA Solar modules, TMEIC inverters and Nextracker trackers. PowerMarket is providing acquisition, management, billing and support services for the community solar project.
The Inyokern facility will deliver enough clean energy to eliminate an estimated 21,667 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually or the equivalent of annual emissions from more than 4,700 cars.
Community solar in California was recently dealt a blow by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) when it issued a proposed decision in March that the Net Value Billing Tariff (NVBT) conflicts with federal law, leaving to question the future of the potentially burgeoning community solar market. However, Dimension was able to move this project forward, and secured over $100 million in total project capital for the project.
“Everything aligned perfectly for this project,” Bryan Bentrott, vice president of origination at Dimension Energy told pv magazine USA. He explained that the company had been looking for the optimal site, and this 130-acre site had been abandoned by a utility-scale developer. Dimension obtained the land “on favorable terms,” he said. In addition, it’s in high desert with good solar exposure, it’s flat and it’s adjacent to transmission lines.
“We turned a struggling utility scale site into the largest community solar project in the country despite tremendous policy hurdles in the state by taking advantage of the niche Green Tariff Enhanced Community Renewables program,” said Sam Younes, co-founder & chief development officer at Dimension Energy. “Aside from our Inyokern project, this program has been essentially non-functional.”
When asked if the debacle caused by the CPUC’s proposed decision will stymie Dimension’s interest in the California market, Brendan Smithwood, Dimension’s vice president of policy said it would not. “California has one of the largest electricity markets and these resources are something the state needs,” he said. “The state has supported and benefitted from small scale energy projects but the tragedy is that they [the CPUC] are not seeing these resources for the opportunity they are.”
Dimension Energy has executed more than 500 MW of community solar and invested $500 million into clean energy assets since its 2018 founding. The company plans to invest over $3 billion over the next 5 years, with more than 2 GW under development in 12 states across the U.S.
The deal, which closed at the end of 2023, includes partners Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, National Bank of Canada, Comerica, and NT Solar.
