Avangrid Breaks Ground on Its First California Solar Farm

Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Sustainable energy company Avangrid Incorporated (NYSE:AGR) (Orange, Connecticut), part of the Iberdrola Group (Bilbao, Spain), said it started construction on what will be its first solar power facility in California.

The data suite from Industrial Info show Avangrid is at work on its Camino solar project in Kern County. It would boast a nameplate capacity of 44 megawatts (MW) and include 11 MW in a battery energy storage system (BESS). Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can click here for the project reports.

"With this major milestone, we are one step closer to delivering clean solar energy in California to go along with our six wind energy facilities in the state," said Avangrid Chief Executive Officer Pedro Azagra.

Camino is sited next to Avangrid's 189-MW Manzana wind farm, which started commercial operations in 2012. The entire facility is planned for a combination of private land and 200 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

"This project supports the nation's transition to a clean energy economy by expanding access to clean energy, increasing reliability for the state's power grid, creating jobs and boosting local economies," said BLM California Desert District Manager Shelly Lynch.

California's is the largest economy in the country and the state uses more energy than any other, apart from Texas. It is the largest producer of electricity from solar and geothermal resources in the nation, with solar accounting for about a quarter of the state's net electricity generation.

"At the beginning of 2023, California had more than 17,500 MW of utility-scale solar power capacity, more than any other state," the state profile from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reads. "When small-scale facilities are included, the state had almost 32,000 MW of total solar capacity."

California is working to expand the footprint with support from the federal government. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced $20 million in funding for a solar-over-canal project, which involves the installation of solar panels over canals to both reduce water evaporation and generate clean energy.

The canal program could save state residents some 60 billion gallons of water per year, enough for 2 million people, and generate 13 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy. That's more than half of what's needed to meet the state's decarbonization goals for 2030.

"Companies are coming to California because we're embracing innovation and we have the talent and infrastructure to foster new technologies that will solve not only California's, but the world's, biggest challenges," the governor said last week.

In marking its debut in the state, Avangrid boasted that it's among the largest renewable energy operators in the country with 8.7 GW of installed capacity.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).