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Tucson Electric Power to buy cheap solar power from solar-storage project

The new 100 MW solar array and an accompanying 30 MW energy storage system are expected to be in service by the end of 2019. Together with a planned 100 MW wind project, the new system will give TEP a renewable portfolio that produces enough clean energy each year to serve the annual electric needs of nearly one out of every three Tucson homes.

Excluding the cost of storage, TEP will buy the system’s output for 20 years for less than three cents per kilowatt hour – less than half as much as it agreed to pay under similar contracts in recent years.

“This new local system combines cost-effective energy production with cutting edge energy storage, helping us provide sustainable, reliable and affordable service to all of our customers for decades to come,” said Carmine Tilghman, Senior Director of Energy Supply and Renewable Energy for TEP.

TEP’s customers currently pay nearly four times as much for most excess energy from rooftop solar power systems. While the cost of power from large-scale solar arrays has fallen nearly 75 percent over the last five years, the rate at which TEP compensates rooftop solar customers for excess solar energy has risen to historically high levels.

An affiliate of NextEra Energy Resources will build, own and operate the system on a site owned by the city of Tucson located inside TEP’s service territory south of the metropolitan area. The system will become TEP’s largest dedicated renewable energy resource, supplanting the 80 MW Red Horse wind and solar system near Wilcox at the top of the company’s green power portfolio.
Read full article at EL&P