The Hornet Solar facility is a utility-scale solar power project under development in Swisher County, Texas. The project is designed to generate renewable electricity for distribution to the regional grid.
Vesper Energy has announced the completion of solar panel installation at the site, marking a construction milestone for the 600 MW project. The facility is expected to generate enough electricity to supply approximately 160,000 homes annually once operational.
Although panel installation has been completed, additional construction and system integration activities are ongoing. The developer indicated that the project is expected to become operational by spring.
According to project details, the site includes approximately 1.36 million bifacial solar modules installed as part of the overall development. They were mounted on single-axis trackers and are connected to Oncor Electric’s transmission system in ERCOT.
Other Projects
Other than the Hornet Solar plant in Texas, the Sun Pond solar project in the neighboring state of Arizona is also making advancements. Longroad Energy’s $2bn Sun Pond solar and storage project in Maricopa County, Arizona by Longroad Energy begins operations. The facility includes a 111MW-direct current (MWdc) solar component and an 85MW-alternating current (MWac)/340MW-hour storage component. It is part of the broader Longroad Sun Streams Complex which combines four projects totaling nearly 1.6GW of capacity. Furthermore, contracts via power purchase agreements have been secured with Ava Community Energy and San José Clean Energy for the facility’s output.
Details on the Hornet Solar Plant in Texas
Blattner was the contractor in charge of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and began work after a US$590 debt package was secured to finance the Hornet Solar park. Furthermore, the facility has been built on a site that spans six square miles in the Texas Panhandle. The power generated from the facility has been contracted to four off-take partners through individual Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPA’s).
Project Overview
Location: Swisher County, Texas
Project capacity: 600 MW
EPC Contractor: Blattner
Project developer: Vesper Energy
Project cost: US$590 million
cope: 6 square-miles
Juan Suarex, the co-CEO at Vesper Energy commented: “The seamless coordination between our team and our EPC partner, Blattner, has enabled us to remain ahead of schedule and on budget while ensuring quality throughout the process.”
More on the state of Solar in Texas
Currently, the southern state ranks second in utility-scale solar states in the United States. There is 37,714 MW of solar utility installed in the state with a planned 51,144 MW more to be installed over the next five years, making it number 1 in the country. An estimated total of US$45.2 billion has been invested into solar in the state.
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