Read the full story at the Arizona Daily Star.
The biggest solar farm built to serve Tucson Electric Power customers is rising from the desert floor south of the city, and in a few months it will be churning out clean energy while the sun shines — and even when it doesn’t.
The Wilmot Energy Center, a 100-megawatt AC photovoltaic project with 30MW of linked battery storage, is under construction by developer NextEra Energy Resources and is scheduled to begin operations as early as April, a spokesman for the Florida-based company said.
TEP will buy power from the center — which features 314,000 solar panels on 1,130 acres — under a 20-year contract.
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While TEP will make immediate use of Wilmot’s power, planned transmission line projects will help project that power efficiently across the city’s grid, and help light up the University of Arizona with clean power.
In September 2019, TEP announced a 20-year agreement with the UA to provide 100% clean energy to its Tucson campus starting at the end of 2020.
TEP agreed to dedicate portions of new wind and solar energy projects, including the Wilmot Energy Center and the Oso Grande wind project, to serving the UA’s energy needs.
To learn more about the large scale renewable energy agreement, visit our project page.
Photo by David Sanders, Tucson Electric Power, 2021. Article by David Wichner, Arizona Daily Star, 2021.