SunPower Set To Begin Construction Of U.S. Army Solar Project

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) announced that the company has plans to commence the construction of a 10-megawatt (“MW”) photovoltaic (“PV”) solar power plant this month. The plant will be built at a U.S. Army post in Alabama and is expected to generate up to 18,000 MW-hours of electricity per year.

SunPower will supply 100% of the power generated by the plant to the Redstone Arsenal U.S. Army post under a power purchase agreement (“PPA”). This PPA will allow the Army to purchase the electricity generated by the plant at a rate equal to or less than the existing and estimated utility rates of Redstone Arsenal, bypassing the costs of construction, maintenance and operation. SunPower has a 27-year Renewable Energy Services Agreement and lease.

This marks the first PPA project solicited through a renewable and alternative energy Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) and awarded by Huntsville Center.

The project was developed by Redstone Arsenal’s Directorate of Public Works, the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Huntsville Center’s Energy Division. It was designed by SunPower and the company will be responsible for the project’s construction, operations and maintenance going forward.

Notably, the company plans to install a SunPower Oasis Power Plant system – a fully-integrated, modular solar power block engineered for rapid deployment – at the site. Moreover, the solar system is designed to be “micro-grid ready”, in order to make sure that it can be connected to a micro-grid in the future. This would enhance the energy security of the system as a whole.

The U.S. Army aims to obtain 25% of its total energy requirements from renewable sources by 2025, and has pledged to deploy 1 gigawatt of renewable energy on Army installations.

SunPower strives to provide high-performance solar products to its customers. The company utilizes sophisticated manufacturing techniques to improve solar cell efficiency, reduce wafer thickness, improve throughput, process yield and quality, and introduce new products that assist customers to develop solar projects.

SunPower currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the solar sector include ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE:SOL) , JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE:YGE) . While ReneSola sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both JinkoSolar and Yingli Green Energy carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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