Fort Churchill Solar Array
CountryUnited States
LocationMason Valley, Yerington, Nevada
Coordinates39°07′41″N 119°08′24″W / 39.12806°N 119.14000°W / 39.12806; -119.14000
StatusOperational
Construction beganmid 2014
Commission dateAugust 2015
Owner(s)Apple Inc.
Operator(s)NV Energy
Solar farm
TypeCPV
Site area137 acres (55 ha)
Power generation
Units operational1248 SunPower C7 Gen2
Nameplate capacity19.9 MWAC
Capacity factor20.5% (average 2016-2020)
Annual net output35.8 GW·h, 261 MW·h/acre

The Fort Churchill Solar Array is a 19.9 megawatt (MWAC) concentrator photovoltaics power station near the city of Yerington in Lyon County, Nevada.[1] It is the largest assembly of SunPower C7 tracker low concentration PV (LCPV) technology in the United States. The facility was constructed for Apple Inc. to service its Reno Technology Park Data Center.[2][3]

Project details

The project occupies 137 acres adjacent to NV Energy's 226 MW natural gas-fueled Fort Churchill Generating Station in the Mason Valley.[4] SunPower constructed the project using 1,248 of its second-generation, single-axis C7 tracker systems.[1] The system reflects direct sunlight in order to concentrate it by a factor of seven onto high-efficiency (22.8% at 7x concentration) mono-crystalline silicon solar cells.[5]

Apple initiated the project with Sunpower and NV Energy to supply its growing data center business in the state with 100% renewable energy.[2] The resulting arrangement is unusual in that Apple owns the facility, leases it to NV Energy to operate and maintain under a 20-year contract, then repurchases the power through the NV GreenEnergy Rider opportunity.[3][6][7]

Electricity production

Generation (MW·h) of Fort Churchill Solar [8]
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
20151978217920181984183016141537126214,400
201613091654246125953322334437643673358529742861230133,843
201715171686291032053586378236594021379036872402226236,507
201816792154275834443652426536333674353427712166167735,407
201919202101290634383644401340533946337332752235150936,412
202020902639281933243723399441493725324829442188180736,650
Average Annual Production for years 2016-2020 --->35,764

LCPV technology commercialization

SunPower's proprietary high-efficiency solar cell technology, marketed under the "Maxeon" trademark, was originally developed to meet the more rigorous demands of LCPV, despite ultimately having a much greater success in the flat-panel PV market in the U.S.[5] Among the features, copper is deposited on the back of the cells to lower electrical and thermal resistances; thus mitigating the risks from concentrator "hotspots" and improving reliability. In late 2011, SunPower announced that its C7 concentrator system technology could reduce the levelized cost of electricity relative to competing 'utility-scale' PV installations available at the time by 20%.[9]

In a strategic effort to achieve cost reductions at manufacturing scale - reductions similar to those rapidly being realized by commoditized PV using less efficient technology - SunPower entered a joint venture (JV) with the Chinese firm Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor (TZS) to ramp-up LCPV production in late 2012.[10] In early 2014, SunPower announced the supply of 70 MW of "concentrator cell assemblies" to the JV's first 50 MW production line in Inner Mongolia for the first of two projects totaling 120 MW to be completed by the end of 2015.[11]

During the early 2015 completion of its Fort Churchill facility in the U.S., Apple announced its funding of another 40 MW of the JV's LCPV projects in China to support of its growing operations there with renewable energy.[12][13] The JV was reported to have ramped to three 50 MW production lines at that time.[14] Apple, SunPower, and Zhonghuan Energy (TZS's project development entity) indicated later in 2015 their intention to construct and jointly own an additional 170 MW of LCPV projects in northern China.[15][16]

In August 2020, SunPower completed a split of its proprietary cell manufacturing and sales business into a separate company Maxeon Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:MAXN).[17] TZS invested $298 million in the new entity and maintains close ties.[18] Maxeon continues to manufacture and sell solar panel technology under the SunPower brand outside of the US and Canada.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Fort Churchill Solar Project - Fact Sheet" (PDF). SunPower. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Apple's Newest Data Center near Reno, NV, Will Get Power From the Sun". Solar Reviews. September 30, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Katie Fehrenbacher (March 23, 2016). "How Apple's Solar Strategy Evolved". Fortune. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Fort Churchill Generating Station" (PDF). NV Energy. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  5. 1 2 "The State of LCPV Commercialization". SunPower. October 18, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Solar Resources". NV Energy. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  7. ↑ Rob Sabo (October 31, 2017). "Apples Lyon County Plant Seen as Start of Something Big". Nevada Appeal.
  8. ↑ "Fort Churchill Solar, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  9. ↑ "SunPower Concentrated Photovoltaic C7 Tracker Delivers Lowest Cost for Utility-Scale Solar Power Plants". SunPower. October 18, 2011.
  10. ↑ "SunPower Signs Joint Venture Agreement in China". PR Newswire. December 3, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  11. ↑ Eric Wesoff (March 26, 2014). "SunPower Sells 70 MW in Concentrator Cell Assemblies for Projects in China". greentechmedia.com.
  12. ↑ Eric Wesoff (April 16, 2015). "Apple and SunPower to build 40 MW of PV in China". greentechmedia.com.
  13. ↑ Ucilia Wang (April 16, 2015). "Apple Goes to China to Build Solar Project with SunPower". Forbes.
  14. ↑ "SunPower and Apple Form JV to Run 40 MW of Solar Projects in China". energytrend.com. April 17, 2015.
  15. ↑ "SunPower, Apple to Collaborate on 170 MW of China PV". rechargenews.com. November 19, 2015.
  16. ↑ Jake Richardson (November 30, 2015). "Apple & SunPower Collaborating On 170 MW Solar Power Project In Mongolia". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Home | Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd". www.maxeon.com. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  18. ↑ "Industry-Leading Companies | SunPower Global". sunpower.maxeon.com. 2019-11-11.
  19. ↑ Emma Foehringer Merchant (2020-08-27). "SunPower Completes Spinoff of Manufacturing Assets to Newly Formed Company Maxeon". www.greentechmedia.com.
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