The project, named Pleasant Valley Solar, is currently the largest contracted solar facility in the Idaho Power system
rPlus Energies further expands into Idaho with 200MW Pleasant Valley Solar project. (Credit: Michael Schwarzenberger from Pixabay)
rPlus Energies, a national leader in the development of utility-scale renewable energy projects, announced a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Idaho Power for a new 200-megawatt (MW) solar facility in Ada County, Idaho. The project, named Pleasant Valley Solar, is currently the largest contracted solar facility in the Idaho Power system.
The project is expected to utilize many local vendors during construction — bringing significant revenue to the area, benefits to local businesses, and approximately 220 construction related jobs.
“The sunshine is plentiful in Idaho – and we at rPlus Energies are proud to help the state achieve a commonsense approach to energy independence and utilize the abundant energy source to its full potential,” said rPlus Energies President and CEO Luigi Resta. “The Pleasant Valley Solar project will play a critical role in supplying reliable and resilient renewable energy while also bringing strong economic growth and job opportunities to the state.”
The Pleasant Valley Solar project was awarded a PPA through a negotiated process with Meta (formerly the Facebook company) and Idaho Power. This PPA was made possible through the collaborative efforts between Meta and Idaho Power to develop a special Energy Services Agreement that will allow Meta access to renewables to support its local operations. The project will deliver energy to the Idaho Power system and contribute to Meta’s goal to support 100% of its operations with renewable energy. Specifically, output from the project will go into the same grid that supports Meta’s new data center in Kuna, ID.
“Meta is committed to minimizing our environmental footprint in the communities where we live and work, and central to this goal is creating, building and running energy-efficient data centers supported by renewable energy,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. “One of the core factors in selecting Idaho for our new data center location in 2022 was access to renewable energy, and Meta is proud to partner with Idaho Power and rPlus Energies to help bring even more renewable energy to the Treasure Valley grid.”
Pleasant Valley Solar will significantly increase the amount of renewable energy on Idaho Power’s system. The company is actively moving toward its goal of providing 100% clean energy by 2045.
“This is an important milestone for Idaho Power,” said Idaho Power President and CEO Lisa Grow. “Pleasant Valley will not only become the largest solar project on our system, but it’s also an example of how our proposed Clean Energy Your Way program can help us partner with customers to meet their own clean energy goals. We look forward to working with Meta as the future of clean energy takes shape in Idaho, including Idaho Power’s own goal to provide 100% clean energy to its customers by 2045.”
rPlus Energies has selected Sundt Renewables (“Sundt”) to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for Pleasant Valley Solar. Sundt has significant experience in the region, including the rPlus-developed 80 MW Graphite Solar project in Carbon County, UT that reached commercial operation in June 2022 as well as the 200 MW Appaloosa Solar 1 project currently under construction in Iron County, UT.
Pleasant Valley Solar is expected to start construction later this year.
Source: Company Press Release