A California company has teamed with the U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s largest gas utility to build a major solar power project just outside Houston, Texas.
The Aktina Renewable Power Project, a 500-MWac/631-MWdc solar farm spanning 4,000 acres in Wharton County, Texas, includes 1.4 million solar modules. Courtesy: Rosendin Renewable Energy Group
Rosendin, an electrical contractor with its corporate headquarters in San Jose, and Tokyo Gas America are developing the Aktina Renewable Power Project.
The companies said the project includes 1.4 million solar modules spanning 4,000 acres in Wharton County, southwest of Houston. The farm will produce 500 MWac (631 MWdc) for the Texas electric grid.
The Aktina project would, when completed as scheduled, be the largest operating solar power project in Texas. Electricity from the project will be brought online starting in mid-2021 and sold to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) wholesale market. The project is expected to be fully complete in the first half of 2022.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its latest “Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO)” released April 6, 2021 said solar power generation capacity continues to rise across the country, with an estimated 10.4 GW added nationwide in 2020. The agency forecasts an additional 15.8 GW of utility-scale solar capacity will come online this year, with another 14.9 GW in 2022. The group said about 5 GW of small-scale solar—projects with less than 1 MW of capacity—is forecast to start-up across the 2021-22 STEO forecast period.
The Aktina solar power construction project in Texas involves about 500 workers, according to Rosendin, the lead contractor for the installation. Courtesy: Rosendin Renewable Energy Group