New Milestone for NTR's Solar Business

June 23 2009

On 23rd June 2009, NTR’s solar project development company, Tessera Solar North America, announced that it had reached a significant milestone by signing a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with CPS Energy to develop a 27 MW solar project in West Texas, USA. The solar project will utilise in the region of 1,080 SunCatcher™ power systems, which are manufactured by Tessera Solar’s sister company, Stirling Energy Systems.

The PPA is the first major deal to be secured since NTR invested in Stirling Energy Systems and Tessera Solar in March 2008. NTR’s strategy from the outset of its investment was to build out the pipeline and broaden the diversity of projects. The PPA will complement Tessera Solar’s two major California-based projects in the Imperial Valley and Mojave Desert, which alone will generate 1,500MW of solar power.

The agreement marks CPS Energy’s first move in to the renewable energy space and is representative of steps that competing power companies are considering. The project is expected to break ground in Summer 2010 with the first units expected to come online by the end of 2010.