Southern California Edison signs deal to buy solar energy from Redcrest solar farm

Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed a deal to buy solar energy from the planned Redcrest solar farm in Kern County, US.

SCE has signed a 20-year contract to buy 20MW of power.

The project, which is scheduled to start construction in 2015, will be developed by 8minutenergy Renewables and Saferay.

The 160-acre farm, which can offset about 54,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, is expected to create more than 150 jobs during the construction phase.

The farm will use photovoltaic modules and a system, which tracks the sun to maximise energy production, according to the company.

SCE will get one-third of its power from renewable energy resources by the year 2020, under state law.

8minutenergy Renewables CEO Martin Hermann said the Redcrest Solar Farm’s annual production of about 48 million kilowatt hours of electricity will produce enough renewable solar energy to serve 9,000 households.

“This is the third [agreement] in the last 12 months that we’ve secured, for a total capacity of over 325 megawatts,” Hermann added.

“We are pleased that utilities and county, state and local officials have confidence in the ability of 8minutenergy and Saferay to deliver on our solar projects.”

Under the Edison International umbrella, the company has recently signed 13 agreements for 201.5MW of renewable energy.

8minutenergy, which is based in Berlin, is specialised in solar plants built on farm land and also finances large-scale photovoltaic plants.