Canadian Solar Inc. announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, Recurrent Energy, LLC, has completed a purchase and sale agreement with Appalachian Power for Recurrent's Firefly Energy solar project located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. With a capacity of 150 MWac, the Firefly project will be Appalachian Power's largest solar energy acquisition to date and will help the utility meet its clean energy requirements under the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA).
The Firefly Energy solar project will be developed and constructed by Recurrent under a Build Transfer Agreement (BTA). Once construction is completed, Appalachian Power, which serves customers in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee, will be the long-term owner of the project. Pending local and state permits and other regulatory approvals, construction of the project is expected to start in early 2023 and reach commercial operation in 2024.
Recurrent received approval on its Siting Agreement for the Firefly project last month from the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors. The agreement provides $2.25 million in upfront payments to Pittsylvania County in addition to long-term revenue for public services over the life of the project. "We appreciate Recurrent working with the County to strike a balance that allows solar development to happen in a way that minimizes visual impact and positively impacts our community," said County Administrator David Smitherman.
The 150 MWac Firefly project in Virginia expands our growing footprint across the eastern United States, delivering turnkey projects for utilities and other investors. We are pleased to have been selected through a competitive process and to be a part of Appalachian Power's major solar energy expansion. We look forward to advancing this project through development and construction, and delivering a renewable solar energy project to Appalachian Power that will help them serve their Virginia customers."
Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar
Passed in 2020 by the Virginia General Assembly, the VCEA seeks to end carbon dioxide emissions from the utility industry in Virginia. Appalachian Power intends to meet its VCEA targets primarily through future investments in solar, wind, energy storage, and energy efficiency measures.
"This will be our largest solar project yet in our journey to deliver clean, reliable power to our customers," said Chris Beam, Appalachian Power president and chief operating officer. "We are eager to work with Recurrent and for the significant economic benefits construction will have on the surrounding community."
Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is part of American Electric Power, which is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions. AEP's approximately 16,800 employees operate and maintain the nation's largest electricity transmission system and more than 223,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.5 million customers in 11 states. AEP is also one of the nation's largest electricity producers with approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including 5,500 megawatts of renewable energy.
About Canadian Solar Inc.
Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest solar technology and renewable energy companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions, and developer of utility-scale solar power and battery storage projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of development. Over the past 20 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 63 GW of premium-quality, solar photovoltaic modules to customers across the world. Likewise, since entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian Solar has developed, built and connected over 6.2 GWp in over 20 countries across the world. Currently, the Company has around 430 MWp of solar projects in operation, nearly 7 GWp of projects under construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 17 GWp of projects in pipeline (mid- to early- stage). Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar and renewable energy industry, having been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since 2006.
About Recurrent Energy (Canadian Solar Subsidiary)
Recurrent Energy is a leading utility-scale solar and storage project developer, delivering competitive, clean electricity to large energy buyers. Based in the U.S., Recurrent Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. and functions as Canadian Solar's U.S. project development arm. Recurrent Energy has approximately 5 GW of solar and storage projects in development in the U.S.