Danish power company Ørsted has reached a final investment decision (FID) on the Mockingbird Solar Center, a 471MW AC solar power project in Texas, US.
To be located in Lamar County, the Mockingbird solar photovoltaic (PV) project will cover an area of about 20km2.
The company is expected to commence the construction of the solar PV project this month with its completion anticipated in 2024.
The Mockingbird Solar Center, which to date is the largest solar PV project in Ørsted’s portfolio, is expected to produce clean energy adequate enough to power over 80,000 households per year.
Ørsted region Americas CEO David Hardy said: “Adding almost half a gigawatt to our portfolio, the decision to build Mockingbird represents an important milestone for our onshore business and for our expansion in solar PV.
“We look forward to building Mockingbird and for this project to start producing clean energy at a large scale. Mockingbird will achieve this while doing so in a way that prioritises conservation and our deep commitment to the communities we serve.”
Ørsted said that nearly 1,000 acres of land near the new solar PV project will be donated to Nature Conservancy for the conservation of native prairie in north-east Texas.
Royal DSM, a health and nutrition company, signed a ten-year corporate power purchase agreement with Ørsted to offtake a share of the electricity produced from the Mockingbird Solar Center project.
The Danish energy company currently has about 5.5GW of onshore renewable assets around the world, including 1.8GW of solar PV, in operation or under construction.
In October 2022, Ørsted closed a farm-down agreement with Energy Capital Partners (ECP) for a 50% stake in its 862MW operational renewable energy portfolio in the US in a deal worth about $410m.
