Renewable energy generation operations begin at 75MW Electrify America Solar Glow 1
16 August 2023
Electrify America has begun commercial operation of the new 75MW Electrify America Solar Glow 1 solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation project in San Bernardino County, CA, announced last year. Electrify America Solar Glow 1 is the result of a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with developer Terra-Gen.
Electrify America is the largest open network of DC fast chargers for electric vehicles in the US to enter into a virtual power purchase agreement for new renewable energy generation. This new construction contributes to additionality by producing new renewable energy that may not otherwise be available.
This investment is expected to generate 75 MW at peak solar capacity, which is comparable to the power drawn by 500 EVs charging at once at an average speed of 150 kilowatts. The total annual production is projected at 225 Gigawatt-hours (GWh).
In 2022, Electrify America powered more than 5 million customer charging sessions—3.5 times the sessions in 2021. These sessions delivered roughly 173 GWh of electricity, enabling an estimated 493 million miles of electric driving and avoided consumption of roughly 21 million gallons of gasoline.
We expect the demand on our charging network to continue to rise with the increase in EV ownership. Solar Glow 1 adds new additional 100% renewable energy generation with estimated annual production that exceeds our 2022 network usage.
—Jigar Shah, Director of Energy Services at Electrify America
The Electrify America Solar Glow™ 1 project in San Bernardino County, CA, has more than 200,000 solar panels and encompasses an area of more than one square mile.
The solar project may also be expanded at the option of Terra-Gen to include a co-located battery energy storage system to increase the delivery of renewable energy to the grid during times when more costly—and often more polluting—peaking power plants may be used to meet customer needs. The potential use of a co-located battery energy storage system at the facility would add to Electrify America’s ongoing effort of deploying more than 30 MW of co-located behind-the-meter energy storage systems at charging stations across the US.
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