Apple Signs $848M Commercial Solar Deal With First Solar

A gigantic offtake agreement shows that commercial wholesale solar is alive and well.

Eric Wesoff February 10, 2015

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

Apple has pledged $848 million for solar power from First Solar's 130-megawatt California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, Calif. under a 25-year power-purchase agreement (PPA) with Pacific Gas and Electric.

This is the first wholesale commercial and industrial PPA executed by First Solar, and it's Apple's fourth solar farm project.

"Apple's commitment was instrumental in making this project possible and will significantly increase the supply of solar power in California," said Joe Kishkill, First Solar's chief commercial officer, in a release.

Facts about the California Flats Solar Project:

It's on 2,900 acres occupying 3 percent of a property owned by Hearst Corporation in Cholame, Calif. (the Jack Ranch)
Construction is expected to start this year, and is slated to be finished by the end of 2016
The output of the balance of the solar farm will be sold to PG&E under a separate PPA
The project is fully subscribed with the Apple and PG&E PPAs
The facility is going to consist of a mix of fixed-tilt modules and single-axis trackers, according to a First Solar spokesperson

According to a release, "In January, the Monterey County Planning Commission unanimously approved the California Flats Solar Project, sending the project to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, which will consider final approval of the project today."

There are currently 386 megawatts-AC worth of large off-site commercial solar projects in development across the U.S., according to GTM Research's Cory Honeyman and the GTM Research Utility PV Tracker.