Southern Company subsidiary acquires solar facility in Texas

ATLANTA -- Southern Co. subsidiary Southern Power has acquired the 120-megawatt East Pecos Solar Facility, the company's second solar project in Texas and its 35th generating facility overall.

The facility will be on 1,000 acres in Pecos County and is expected to consist of 1.2 million of First Solar's thin-film, photovoltaic solar modules mounted on single-axis tracking tables.

First Solar is building the facility and will operate and maintain it. Construction began in February, and the facility is expected to reach commercial operation in the fourth quarter 2016.

The electricity and associated renewable energy credits generated by the facility will be sold under a 15-year power purchase agreement with Austin Energy, which will have the option to keep or sell the RECs.

The Southern Co. system has added or announced more than 3,800 MW of renewable energy projects since 2012.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Southern Company subsidiary acquires solar facility in Texas ."