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Written by Frank Lopez
EDP Renewables North America, headquartered in Houston, celebrated the inauguration of its 200-megawatt Scarlet II Solar Energy Park in Fresno County.
The company develops, constructs, owns and operates wind farms, solar parks and energy storage systems throughout North America.
The expansion with Scarlet II follows EDP Renewables North America’s Scarlett 1 Solar Energy Park, consisting of 200 megawatts of solar and 40 megawatts/160 megawatt hours of battery energy storage system (BESS), which achieved commercial operation in 2024.
The second phase of the Scarlet Energy Park includes a co-located 150 megawatt/600 megawatt-hour BESS, increasing the project’s resilience, according to a news release.
The output of 200 megawatts of solar energy is contracted through a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement, with the 150-megawatt BESS contracted under long-term resource adequacy agreements with Ava Community Energy and San Jose Clean Energy.
California’s Resource Adequacy Program ensures that load-serving entities have enough capacity to meet their customer’s demand and maintain grid reliability.
“After our successful launch of Scarlet I, we are thrilled to add Scarlet II to our portfolio and build on our record of delivering energy reliability and resiliency for Fresno County and the Golden State,” said Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDP Renewables North America. “We are proud that our meaningful partnerships and investments in the community helped generate strong local support for the expansion of Scarlet Solar Energy Park.”
Scarlet II will generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 68,000 California homes annually.
Schools, emergency services, road maintenance, and infrastructure will benefit from the project’s economic boost, according to the release.
Scarlett II created more than 140 construction jobs and accounted for more than $1.5 million in spending in-state, according to the release.