Utility Scale

Intersect Power turns on massive solar + storage project in California

Intersect Power turns on massive solar + storage project in California
Oberon Solar + Storage Facility (Credit: Intersect Power)

Intersect Power announced the commercial operation of its Oberon Solar + Storage project, located in Riverside County, California, with 679 MWp/500 MWac of solar energy and 250 MW/1 GWh of co-located storage.

The project was built with First Solar modules from Ohio, NX Horizon smart solar trackers from Nextracker, and American-made structural steel. More than 930 skilled union jobs were created at peak construction with California’s LiUNA Local 1184, IBEW Local 440 and others, prioritizing local area hire. The co-located 1 GWh of storage was built with batteries from Tesla’s battery facility in Lathrop, California.

Energy, Renewable Energy Credits, and Resource Adequacy generated by the Oberon project will be purchased by a combination of offtakers including Calpine Energy Solutions, Constellation, Ava Community Energy (formerly East Bay Community Energy), Microsoft, and San Diego Community Power.

“The Oberon project is much more than a new source of clean power for California. It is also a case study in how the clean energy industry can maximize project benefits by prioritizing domestic supply chains and union labor to ensure the rewards of the clean energy transition are felt by all Americans,” said Intersect Power CEO, Sheldon Kimber. “This project demonstrates that Intersect continues to pioneer procurement standards for our industry that live up to the vision of the IRA and deliver transformative clean energy projects that move the needle on the deep decarbonization of our economy.”

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Since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed one year ago, U.S. solar and storage companies have announced over $100 billion in private sector investments, according to recent analysis by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

Solar and storage manufacturing is now surging in the United States, as 51 solar manufacturing facilities have been announced or expanded in the last year. These new and expanded solar factories will invest nearly $20 billion into American communities and will amount to 155 gigawatts (GW) of new production capacity across the solar supply chain.

The Oberon project is the first to achieve operation through the streamlined approach under the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. The plan was the result of six years of collaboration between the federal government, conservation groups, Native American tribes, the renewable energy industry, utilities, and members of the public – and it designated over 10 million acres of conservation and recreation lands in the southern California desert while centering renewable energy development in designated Development Focus Areas.