A deal signed between CPS Energy and OCI Solar Power will bring 400 megawatts of solar energy to San Antonio and put Texas in the top five solar producing states in America.

The two companies inked a 25-year power purchase and economic development agreement which will see five solar plants as well as manufacturing facilities to produce solar panel components to be developed in San Antonio.

According to a joint statement released by CPS Energy and OCI Solar Power, their San Antonio project is a first-of-its-kind, manufacturing-to-generation contract and the largest solar project in the nation among municipal utilities.

The planned solar projects will deliver enough energy for 70,000 households in San Antonio.

OCI Solar Power created a consortium of partners to deliver the 400 MW of solar which will go to CPS Energy to distribute over the 25-year life of the agreement.

According to the contract, members of the OCI Solar Power consortium will build facilities in San Antonio to produce components for solar power generation such as modules, trackers and inverters.

The anchor manufacturer in the consortium is Nexolon America LLC which is investing $100 million to build a high-tech manufacturing facility and headquarters in San Antonio to create over 400 jobs.

In a report on mysanantonio.com, OCI Solar said the planned solar plans will be build in phases and will take about four year to complete.

The first projects, a 50-megawatt plant, will be built in San Antonio while a second 35-MW plant will be built in a surrounding county.

A third 105-MW plant will be build within 120 miles of San Antonio while the final phase of the project will see a 105-MW plant built in West Texas and another 105-MW plant built in North Texas. – EcoSeed Staff