Avangrid, Inc., a leading sustainable energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, has begun installing the first of about 105,000 solar modules at its Camino Solar project in California. With a capacity of 44 MWac (57 MWdc), Camino Solar is expected to generate the same amount of energy consumed by about 14,000 U.S. homes annually.
“We are excited to add this clean, renewable energy project to California’s grid. Camino solar, like all of our projects, is creating jobs and boosting the local economy,” said Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO. “This is an example of Avangrid continuing to grow its solar capacity across the country, supplementing our large wind fleet, and accelerating the clean energy transition.”
Camino is expected to create about 100 jobs during construction, nearly all of them filled locally, and will generate about $15 million in state and local taxes during its lifetime.
Camino is being built next to Avangrid’s 189 MW Manzana wind farm, which was built in 2012. The project is located on a combination of private land and more than 200 acres of public lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
When construction is completed, Camino will become the tenth solar project in Avangrid’s portfolio of projects and its first in California.
Avangrid has six other wind energy projects in California, ranging from San Diego County to the Bay Area, with a combined operating capacity of over 500 MW. These wind farms have generated a combined $88 million in property taxes as of the end of last year, supporting a variety of local public services. The Company recently eclipsed 9 GW of installed capacity across its fleet of projects spread across nearly half the country.
