Entergy Texas to bring first solar resource online through PPA with Longroad Energy
Entergy Texas will be bringing its first solar resource online by the end of the year through a PPA with Longroad Energy's 150 MW Umbriel Solar Project.
The utility has signed a 20-year PPA for the full output of the 150 MW project, which was selected through the utility's first 200 MW solar RFP issued back in 2019.
The project, which began development in 2017 will be sited in Polk County, Texas. In comments shared with NPM, Longroad detailed additional information on the project, which will utilize domestically supplied First Solar modules with the expectation to capture the 10% domestic content Investment Tax Credit (ITC) adder.
The project will utilize PV inverters from Power Electronics and trackers from Nextracker. Operations and maintenance on the project will be provided by NovaSource in tandem with Longroad affiliate Longroad Energy Services.
Longroad closed debt financing on the project last month. The project will be constructed by McCarthy Building Companies and is expected to be online by the end of the year.
Umbriel Solar is Longroad's sixth project developed in Texas and the first in MISO's footprint in the state. The firm's vice president of origination and development, Adam Horwitz, says the team expects to continue to develop projects in Texas, which he described as an "attractive market."
The project is significant for Entergy Texas, as well as being the utility's first solar project. The utility plans to use the project's capacity to supply a new voluntary green energy tariff called the Green Future Option (GFO). The program will allow customers to purchase specific amounts of renewable capacity and receive a credit based on their share of the resource output.
The tariff is still subject to approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC). If it is approved, it will go live along with the commercial operation date (COD) of the Umbriel Solar Project.
At launch, Umbriel will be the only resource in Entergy Texas' portfolio able to supply capacity for the tariff. In an interview with NPM, Entergy Texas Senior Communications Specialist Mary Rogers said the company would continue to procure incremental renewable resources to supply the program with additional resources.
The utility announced plans to triple its renewable portfolio in 2021, which Rogers says was prompted by increasing interest among its customer bases. Following the 200 MW solar RFP from 2019, the utility issued a 2021 RFP for up to 500 MW of renewable generation and a 2 GW RFP seeking renewable energy in December 2022, which it expects to evaluate throughout 2023.
By the end of the decade, Rogers says the company expects to have 11 GW of renewables online.
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.
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