McCarthy Building Companies’ Renewable Energy and Storage Group recently completed construction and final commissioning of the 200-MWdc Sun Streams 2 solar project in Maricopa County, Arizona.
The project is situated on more than 1,000 acres approximately 40 miles west of Phoenix. McCarthy’s Renewable Energy and Storage Group served as EPC contractor for the project, which is now owned by Longroad Energy. Longroad Energy acquired the project from First Solar in early 2021.
Sun Streams 2 has more than 450,000 First Solar Series 6 modules and also includes a substation expansion. McCarthy’s self-perform field forces installed all modules, 5,805 Nextracker trackers, 53 SMA MWPS-4000 inverter skids, all DC wiring and combiner boxes and all underground 34.5 kV AC collection wiring. The project employed more than 250 local workers for its construction, and recruitment was primarily conducted in Buckeye and Goodyear, Arizona.
“Building solar plants in sunny Arizona has always made sense, and the fact that we were able to recruit and train more than 250 workers from the local community for careers in this rapidly expanding industry makes this project even more impactful,” said Scott Canada, senior vice president of the Renewable Energy and Storage group at McCarthy. “Longroad was a great partner to have on the final construction and commissioning of this solar project, in part because we share a commitment to bringing solar power and its economic benefits to communities across the nation. We’re looking forward to future partnerships with them as they expand their footprint in Arizona and elsewhere.”
Sun Streams 2 is set to help power new Microsoft data centers in Goodyear and El Mirage, Arizona.
Sun Streams 3, 4 and 5 are development projects with target operational dates between 2023 and 2025. These projects are ideally positioned to accommodate a variety of offtake structures, with or without storage. The projects are expected to generate over $40 million for Arizona’s schools via a long-term lease with the Arizona State Land Department, and over $5 million in tax revenue.
