Mammoth Solar signs PPA with AEP for first phase, eyes end of year for construction start

Fresh off a PPA signed with AEP for the first 400 MW phase of the up-to-1.3 GW Mammoth Solar project in Indiana, developer Global Energy Generation is making steps towards an end-of-year start to the construction of what will be one of the largest solar projects in the Midwest and country.

GEG President Nick Cohen attributes the interest in the massive USD 1bn project to an ideal location along the PJM/MISO seam in Pulaski and Starke counties.

“(Siting along the seam) provides market optionality for the project. In this case, the project has pursued the PJM side of it. But when you are developing a project, market optionality is important,” Cohen said in an interview with NPM. “Both MISO and PJM have strong demand for renewables and the cost per watt of equipment has come down far enough that projects like this can be very competitive and economic in latitudes like the Midwest. You know, it wasn't very long ago when you really needed to be a southern climate for this to pencil out but today, with lower costs per watt you can now go to a place like Indiana, which still has plenty of sun and you can create the lowest cost of energy in the marketplace using solar.”

He also chalked the interest up to Mammoth being at an advanced stage in development and offering “economies of scale” with its massive size. AEP and GEG finally hashed out the PPA in March, Cohen said.

“It's one of the most competitive projects in all of PJM. So, there is a lot of interest, and we have been talking to counterparties,” Cohen said. “(But) it just made a lot of sense, it's in the AEP zone of PJM.”

With an offtaker confirmed for the first phase, GEG is preparing to break ground by the end of the year. The company hopes to have the whole project, which Cohen said could be comprised of “two or three” phases, in construction in 2022.

“We’re bringing the offtaker (on) in conjunction with the mobilization for construction. The offtake is really one of the late-stage elements of any of these projects,” Cohen said. “At this point, we're just working through detailed engineering and working on our mobilization schedule for the construction. There's quite a lot of job opportunities, vendor contracts that we're working to finalize.”

In March, GEG scored a win with the approval of the Pulaski County, Indiana Board of Zoning Appeals to add acreage that will allow it to increase setbacks and consider aesthetic aspects of the project. The project will be operational in 2023.

Mammoth also navigated some roadblocks along the way, including legal challenges alleging conflicts of interest with the project and local officials who leased their own land to the developer.

Cohen is excited to have made it to the point of a PPA with the start of construction in sight.

“We're really excited about it. This project has been validated in the marketplace,” Cohen said. “Indiana is one of the best places in America to do a solar project. The land is flat; the specific farmlands that we are utilizing are relatively lower-production farmlands, and it is in the AEP zone on their transmission network at the MISO PJM seam. With the economies of scale, the project is able to provide very competitive pricing that advantages the marketplace.”