1 September 2011

NRG begins operation of New Mexico CdTe PV project

NRG Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NRG Energy Inc of Princeton, NJ, USA, has started producing electricity at its 20MW Roadrunner Solar Generating Facility, which is the second-largest photovoltaic (PV) project in the state of New Mexico. It is the third large-scale solar generation plant that NRG has brought online, and its first outside California.

Picture: NRG’s 20MW Roadrunner Solar Generating Facility. 

The facility created more than 200 jobs during its construction over the past nine months and will generate enough power to supply thousands of homes when operating at full capacity. First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA provided engineering, construction and procurement (EPC) services for the project using its cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film PV modules mounted on single-axis trackers, and will also be the operations and maintenance contractor for the facility. The system rotates the PV solar panels to follow the sun throughout the day, increasing electricity production compared with a fixed-tilt installation.

The facility is located on a 210-acre privately owned parcel of industrial-zoned land near Santa Teresa, NM, about 10 miles from El Paso, TX. Power generated by the Roadrunner facility will be sold to El Paso Electric under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

“On the heels of our recent commencement of operations at the Avenal Solar Generating Facility in California, we now have our first solar facility operating in New Mexico,” says Tom Doyle, president of NRG Solar and NRG’s West Region. “Our facility will help harness the state’s plentiful solar resources to meet its renewable energy goals.”

NRG Solar has more than 2000MW of photovoltaic and solar thermal projects under development or in construction across the southwestern USA.

Tags: First Solar Thin-film photovoltaic CdTe NRG Solar

Visit: www.nrgsolarenergy.com

Visit: www.firstsolar.com