Sun Pond Solar and Storage Project Begins Operations in Arizona
Arizona’s Maricopa County has a new Sun Pond solar + storage facility operational. The 111 MW solar and 340 MWh storage project was planned by Longroad Energy and built by McCarthy Building Companies.
California Utilities Secure Long-Term Power Supply
California utilities Ava Community Energy and San José Clean Energy (SJCE) have signed long-term PPAs for the production of Sun Pond.
“With Sun Pond now online, we are excited to expand access to renewable energy for customers in the greater Bay Area,”
said Charles Spiliotis, chief investment officer and co-founder of Longroad Energy.
“The battery storage system at Sun Pond provides firm, flexible capacity – delivering low-cost, clean power when the grid needs it most.”
Part of Larger Sun Streams Complex
Sun Pond is a piece of the Longroad Sun Streams Complex, a four-project complex with about 1.6 GW of solar and storage capacity in Maricopa County, Arizona. The Longroad Sun Streams Complex is generating more than $300 million in benefits to Arizona schools and communities via long-term leases to the Arizona State Land Department and tax remittances.
Equipment and Construction Partnership
For the Sun Pond BESS, Longroad installed the Gridstack battery energy storage system from U.S.-based energy storage platform vendor Fluence. Sun Pond uses PV modules from First Solar, smart trackers from Nextpower, and solar inverters from Sungrow.
The EPC contractor was McCarthy. At the peak of construction, almost 300 individuals were employed by all the contractors and teams. Longroad affiliate Longroad Energy Services and NovaSource Power Services will provide full operations and maintenance services.
