Oklahoma to double solar capacity after Recurrent's North Fork financing secured
The future 160MW array is an initial step toward diversifying power generation sources in a state over-reliant on fossil fuels and wind
Recurrent Energy has secured $112m in project financing for its 160MW North Fork array in Oklahoma, more nameplate solar capacity than the US state has now amid an early push to diversify power generation beyond wind and fossil fuels.
Oklahoma, the number three wind state by operational capacity behind Texas and Iowa, ranked 45th in solar with 128MW on 1 April this year, according to Solar Energy Industries Association, a national trade group.
Solar provides less than half of one percent of the state’s electricity versus about 43% for wind and 46% coming from thermal generators.
North Fork is located 100 miles (161 km) southwest of the capital Oklahoma City and is due to reach fully commercial operation in 2024. It will provide power for about 35,000 homes. Recurrent will own and operate the project.
Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA) will purchase 100% of the project’s electricity under a 15-year agreement, its first for solar. OMPA serves 42 municipally owned electric systems.
General Manager David Osburn said the transaction will help OMPA to continue diversifying its energy mix and “increase the amount of non-carbon resources for the benefit of our member cities.”
Nord/LB, a leading commercial bank in Germany, acted as coordinating lead arranger for the project financing whose terms were not made public.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden’s administration said it would slap duties on subsidiaries of Canadian Solar and four other Chinese suppliers after finding they were dodging US tariffs on Chinese cells and modules by finishing them with minor processing in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam before shipment to here.
The tariffs, which could be as high as 254% and retroactive. They would be applied after 6 June when a two-year ban imposed by Biden on tariffs on Chinese-branded solar products from those nations ends.