The community choice aggregator entered a 20-year power purchase agreement for the 42 MW solar, 140 MWh storage project, located next to an existing Ormat Technologies geothermal facility.
Developer Ormat Technologies is building a 42 MW solar plus 140 MWh energy storage system under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with San Diego Community Power (SDCP), providing clean power to nearly 1 million customers.
SDCP, the second largest community choice aggregator in California, signed a PPA for the Arrowleaf Solar and Storage facility project being developed in Imperial County, California. The facility is sited adjacent to Ormat’s existing North Brawley geothermal facility, and is also located within the Imperial Irrigiation District’s service territory.
Under a 20-year PPA, Ormat will supply SDCP with clean power from the new solar-plus-storage facilities. Subsidiary Ormat Nevada operates the 30 MW collocated geothermal power station, which entered commercial operations in 2008.
“This agreement represents a great outcome for SDCP and Ormat and will bring significant value from a solar-plus-storage facility that will strategically utilize the existing interconnection infrastructure that was established for our nearby Brawley geothermal power plant,” said Doron Blachar, chief executive officer of Ormat Technologies.
The solar component of the project will contribute 42 MW of clean energy to the grid, enough to power 31,500 southern California homes. The project’s storage component will provide 35 MW/140 MWh of capacity, enough to provide four hours of electricity during daily peak consumption when solar is not operating.
The battery to be used for the storage facility has been procured from a global supplier at an attractive purchase price, the developer said. Operations are expected to begin in the first half of 2025.
“San Diego Community Power’s mission is to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers across the region,” said San Diego city councilmember Joe LaCava, chair of the CCA group. “The Arrowleaf Solar and Storage project will be a critical component to ensure that, not only are we meeting our ambitious renewable goals, but we are creating quality construction jobs that support the energy transition in our communities.”
San Diego Community Power serves customers in San Diego, Chula Vista, Encinitas, La Mesa and Imperial Beach, Calif., and began enrolling customers in National City, Calif., in April 2023. The program aims to provide local control and consumer choice regarding energy decisions on a large scale. It is one of 23 major community choice aggregators in California, and adds to roughly 10 million customers involved in community choice solar programs across the state.
Ormat is a public power producer based in Reno, Nevada, that constructs and operates geothermal, solar and storage facilities in the U.S., Guatemala and Kenya with 700 MW of total capacity. The company’s stock traded up 2%, to $81.56 per share, following news of the SDCP power agreement signing.
