The world’s largest solar farm, Alaska’s largest, was revealed at the end of Tuesday, in Houston located about one hour to the north of Anchorage. The owners of the project met together with state and local officials to cut a rite of passage ribbon using a massive knife.
The woman with her scissors is Jenn Miller, the founder as the CEO for Renewable Independent Power Producers. The company began construction on the 45-acre project in the summer of last year and is now supplying electricity into Mat-Su Borough’s electric grid. Mat-Su Borough electric grid.
Miller and her team constructed the second largest state-wide solar array, located just in the northwest from Houston within Willow. Under a tent, she spoke on the afternoon of rain Miller said that, by constructing this 8.5 megawatt solar farm, Alaska solar has reached the heights of.
“It’s it’s not even the first time in our state but I’ll say it’s the very first time on a massive size,” Miller said. “It’s the first time we’ve introduced external investment. It’s also tied to the grid it’s a big enough size that when it goes into and out it will be noticed and felt.”
Matanuska Electric Association CEO Tony Izzo stated that the utility is working to expand the amount of renewable sources for energy while not increasing costs.
“This project, from the very beginning was completed and completed, is providing the energy needed by MEA members at lesser than natural gas-fired generation” Izzo said. “In an interview with additional representatives of Clean Capital a few months ago, I believe my main point was how quickly can you construct more of these projects?”
Clean Capital is a national firm that has lent its support to the project and will eventually be the owner. Izzo claims that the Houston array will, at maximum production, supply about 5 percent of the utility’s production. It’s estimated to power around 1,400 homes.
For the irony of the drizzly weather that accompanied the ribbon cutting ceremony, Miller said the array was designed to reflect Alaska’s climate.
“One of the things that is distinct to our solar system is that we oversize on the panel side simply because Alaska has a number of sunny days,” Miller said. “And since panels have become so price competitive, we can almost over-install the panel size, so that when it’s cloudy we can boost the production of our panels, which will make the solar project more cost-effective overall.”
Miller stated that Miller said the Houston plant is supplying small amounts of electricity into the grid for testing purposes, but the farm should be fully operational by the end of next month. The company is currently considering developing a second large solar project located on the Kenai Peninsula.
