By Cassandra Sweet
Units of Southern Co. (SO) and Turner Enterprises Inc. have
bought a 139-megawatt solar farm in the California desert from
First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the companies said Tuesday.
Southern's wholesale power subsidiary made the purchase, along
with the renewable-energy unit of privately held Turner
Enterprises.
The solar farm, being built near El Centro, Calif., is scheduled
to be completed this fall and will generate enough electricity to
serve about 48,000 homes, the companies said. The facility will
sell the power it generates to Sempra Energy's (SRE) San Diego
utility under a 20-year contract.
The companies declined to disclose the sale price or say how
much of the project will be owned by Southern and how much by
Turner.
The installed cost of U.S. utility-scale solar farms in the U.S.
averaged about $2.27 a watt at the end of 2012, according to a
March survey by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries
Association.
At that level, the El Centro solar farm would cost roughly
$315.5 million to build.
Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy have partnered on
previous solar farm purchases, including a 30-megawatt facility in
New Mexico; 20-megawatt and 30-megawatt solar farms in Nevada; and
a 2.5-megawatt solar facility in North Carolina, the companies
said.
Write to Cassandra Sweet at cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com
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