Solar Power Plants in California
Cal Expo Solarport
Location: CA
Operator: Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Configuration: 540 kWp PV
Operation: 2000
System supplier:
Siemens BP, Energy PhotoVoltaics
EPC:
Kyocera
Quick facts: This was the largest solar parking lot installation in the world at completion.
Each cantilevered structure has three rows of tracking panels. Each of the 20 arrays, made up of 685 modules, measures 130ft long, 42ft wide and 14ft high. The US Dept of Energy assisted with funding.

Photograph courtesy of Sacramento Municipal Utility Dist
Re-posted 26 May 2007

Cal State Hayward
Location: CA
Operator: Cal State Hayward
Configuration: 1,050 kWp PV
Operation: 2004
System supplier: PowerLight Corp
Quick facts: At completion, this four-building array was the largest university-based PV system in the USA.  It supplies about 30% of the campus peak demand.

Photograph courtesy of RWE Schott Solar
Posted 14 Feb 2004

Cache Creek Casino
Location: CA
Operator: Cache Creek Casino Resort
Configuration: 307 kWp PV
Operation: 2004
System supplier: RWE Schott

Photograph courtesy of RWE Schott Solar
Posted 14 Feb 2004

 

Cerro Coso Community College
Location: CA
Operator: Cerro Coso Community College
Configuration: 1 MWp PV
Operation: 2004
System supplier: Sharp, WorldWater & Power, Contrac Costa Electric
Quick facts: This $8.9mn installation covers 6.5ac.

Photograph courtesy of WorldWater & Power Corp
Posted 3 Apr 2005

Earth Island Foods
Location: CA
Operator: Earth Island Natural Foods
Configuration: 113 kWp PV
Operation: 2004
System supplier: RWE Schott, Permacity Corp

Photograph by David Lena and courtesy of RWE Schott Solar
Posted 14 Feb 2004

Googleplex
Location: CA
Operator: Google
Configuration: 1.6 MWp PV
Operation: 2007
System supplier: Sharp
EPC: EI Solutions
Quick facts: At completion, this system was said to be the largest on any corporate campus in the USA. Construction began in Oct 2006 and was completed on schedule and on budget in Jun 2007. The installation has 9,212 solar panels installed on rooftops with multiple architectures requiring four different mounting systems. Other panels were placed on newly constructed carports Average annual output is expected to be 2.6 WGh.

Photograph courtesy of Google
Posted 22 Aug 2007

Metro Bus
Location: CA
Operator: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Configuration: 247 kWp PV
Operation: 2005
System supplier: Schott
EPC: SolSource Energy
Quick facts: Two identical arrays of 1,648 RWE Schott Solar ASE 300w solar modules were located on the flat roofs of two identical Metro maintenance and transportation buildings at Bus Divisions 8 and 15 located in Chatsworth and Sun Valley. The PV system is expected to reduce Metro’s electrical consumption by 15% at each location. These are the largest such installations in the transit industry and cost a total of $3.3mn, half of which was recovered through rebates from Southern California Gas Co and LADWP.

Photograph courtesy of Schott Solar
Posted 8 July 2006

Oakland Hub
Location: CA
Operator: FedEx Corp
Configuration: 904 kWp PV
Operation: 2005
System supplier: PLC
Quick facts: This 80,000 sq ft array covers over 90% of the FedEx hub's electricity requirements. At completion, it was California's largest corporate solar power installation

Photograph courtesy of FedEx Corp
Posted 18 Oct 2005

 

Ontario Distribution Center
Location: CA
Operator: Timberland Co
Configuration: 402 kWp PV
Operation: 2006
System supplier: Sharp
EPC: Northern Power Systems
Quick facts: This installation is one of the largest commercial solar projects in California and features 1,960 PV modules in strings of 14 mounted on a steel structure built in the distribution center’s truckyard. The system is expected to produce about 60% of the facility's electrical load. California's Self-Generation Incentive Program supplied a $1.5mn rebate for the investment and Timberland will retain all of the green credits associated with the power generated by the system.

Photograph courtesy by Timberland Co
Posted 24 Jun 2006

Paramount Frms
Location: CA
Operator: Paramount Farms
Configuration: 1.1 MWp PV
Operation: 2007
System supplier: Uni-Solar
EPC: SolarCraft
Quick facts: This $7.5mn facility is in California's San Joaquin Valley and covers 8ac. It utilizes amorphous thin-film PV cells. Paramount Farms is the world's largest vertically integrated supplier of pistachios and almonds with a combined 52,000ac of nut orchards with around 4mn trees.

Photograph courtesy of Business Wire
Posted 26 May 2007

Rancho Seco PV
Location: CA
Operator: Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Configuration: 3,900 kWp PV
Operation: 1984-2000
System supplier: Arco, Siemens
Quick facts: This is the second largest PV complex in the USA and has been built up at the site of the retired Rancho Seco nuclear plant.

Photograph courtesy of Sacramento Municipal Utility Dist
Re-posted 26 May 2007

San Carlos
Location: CA
Operator: City of San Carlos
Configuration: 40 kWp PV
Operation: 2005
System supplier: RWE Schott, Emcor
Quick facts: This is part of a 60-kW system on the city maintenance yard that won
an award from The Public Technology Institute (PTI).

Photograph by Emcor and courtesy of RWE Schott Solar
Posted 11 May 2004

SEGS A
Location: CA
Operator: Daggett Leasing Corp
Configuration: 1 X 13.8 MW, 1 X 30 MW solar trough
Operation: 1984-1985
T/G supplier: WH, ABB
EPC: Luz International, Solargenix, Blount Intl
Quick facts: These plants are at Daggett. The first block is out of service. Natural gas is used for supplemental steam production.

Photograph courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Posted 30 Jan 2008

SEGS B
Location: CA
Operator: FPL Energy LLC
Configuration: 5 X 30 MW solar trough
Operation: 1986-1988
T/G supplier: ABB
EPC: Luz International, Solargenix, Blount Intl
Quick facts: These plants are at Kramer Junction and represent the largest solar power complex in the world. The solar fields cover approximately 1,000ac and have 400,000 individual mirrors.

Photograph courtesy of Power
Posted 14 Feb 2004

Seley Ranches
Location: CA
Operator: Seley Ranches
Configuration: 267 kWp PV
Operation: 2004
System supplier: WorldWater & Power
Quick facts: This system powers a 200 HP pump and, at completion, was considered the largest solar-powered irrigation system in the world.

Photograph courtesy of WorldWater & Power Corp
Posted 3 Apr 2005

Solar II
Location: CA
Operator: Southern California Edison Co
Configuration: 10 MW collector
Operation: 1996 (ret 1999)
System supplier: SCE, DOE
T/G supplier: ??
Quick facts: This demonstration plant used 2,000 motorized mirrors (heliostats) to focus reflected solar energy onto 24 receivers atop a 300ft tower. There, a molten salt mix was heated to 1050 deg F and routed to a heat exchanger to produce superheated steam for a conventional T/G set.

Photograph courtesy of Southern California Edison Co
Posted 13 Nov 2004

Solarmine
Location: CA
Operator: Chrevron
Configuration: 500 kWp PV
Operation: 2003
System supplier: Uni-Solar
Quick facts: When completed, this 6ac array of amorphous-silicon cells was the largest of its kind and also the first solar power plant purpose-built to help power oil-field operations. The facility has 4,800 flexible solar panels, each 1.3 ft wide and 18ft long, mounted on metal frames. Unlike glass-based photovoltaic systems, these panels can withstand direct impacts and punctures without losing their ability to generate power.

Photograph courtesy of Power
Posted 25 Feb 2004

Yucca Valley
Location: CA
Operator: City of San Carlos
Configuration: 56.7 kWp PV
Operation: 2005
System supplier: RWE Schott, Emcor
Quick facts: The PV system has 324 modules and is installed on a new, standing seam metal roof on the Yucca Valley Community Center. The system is expected to produce approximately one-third of the complex’s energy needs.

Photograph courtesy of RWE Schott Solar
Posted 2 Jan 2006

Abbreviations:  DOE = US Dept of Energy, kWp = kilowatt peak, PLC = PowerLight Corp, PV = photovoltaic, SCE = Southern California Edison

Data: industcards, Platts UDI World Electric Power Plants Data Base

Updated 06/22/08

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