Renewable energy developer Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) reached a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Hydro, an aluminum producer based in Oslo, Norway, for electricity generated by the 127 MW CPV Maple Hill solar installation, which is expected to be one of the largest installations in Pennsylvania.
Electricity will power Hydro’s aluminum extrusion facility in Cressona, Pennsylvania, one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Maple Hill began construction earlier this year and will start providing power to the Hydro facility next summer. The solar field will consist of 237,000 Talesun bifacial panels on a single-axis tracking system to maximize energy production. The tracker provider has yet to be disclosed.
The deal marks Hydro’s first long-term energy contract in the United States.
While Maple Hill would be a considerably large project just about anywhere in the country, it is especially so in Pennsylvania. When completed, it will represent roughly one-sixth of the state’s entire installed solar capacity, which currently is around 787 MW, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Of that capacity, 265 MW entered service in 2020, with the majority of those projects being utility-scale.
In March, the state government executed a 15-year fixed-price supply agreement for seven new solar energy arrays, totaling 191 MW, that is being built by Lightsource bp, which also will own and operate the capacity. The move represented one of the largest solar commitments by any state government in the country, and the portfolio is expected to go into operation on Jan. 1, 2023.
The projects are part of the governor’s GreenGov initiative, Project to Utilize Light and Solar Energy (PULSE).
