Fluor Corp. recently announced that Centinela Solar Energy, LLC, a member of LS Power Group, has awarded the company a lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, as well as a separate contract for ongoing operations and maintenance services for its new nominal 170MWt solar photovoltaic (PV) facility located in Southern California. Fluor has been awarded both the 125MW Phase I and the 45MW Phase II of the Centinela project and received full notice-to-proceed for Phase I, which was booked into backlog in the third quarter of 2012. Phase II is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2013.
“This significant new win for Fluor further solidifies our position as a leader in the solar power engineering and construction industry,” said Dave Dunning, president of Fluor’s Power Group. “We look forward to expanding our solar resume and delivering our second solar PV project for LS Power. Fluor’s decades of project management expertise and our financial strength demonstrates our ability to bring a turnkey solution to our clients for their utility-scale solar developments.”
The Centinela project is located on approximately 1,600 acres in Imperial County, Calif., approximately 90 miles east of San Diego, and has all major permits secured for the project. This project will help meet the regional need for renewable energy and will be one of the first major projects to tie into the newly constructed Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Line. Centinela Solar Energy has closed financing for the project and has 20-year power purchase agreements with San Diego Gas & Electric for the entire power output from the facility, enough electricity to power more than 60,000 homes.
“We are pleased to be working again with a world-class EPC firm like Fluor for LS Power’s largest solar project to date,” said John King, executive VP of LS Power. “This project brings many benefits to the State of California and Imperial County including construction and operations jobs with local business opportunities and revenues.”
Engineering and procurement is under way from Fluor’s Southern California operations center. The facility is expected to achieve full commercial operation by approximately the middle of 2014.