Dive Brief:

• Turner Renewable Energy and Southern Company added an eighth solar power plant to their jointly owned solar portfolio with the purchase of First Solar's 50 megawatt Macho Springs project in New Mexico.
• This Macho Springs deal brings the nameplate capacity of the Turner-Southern portfolio to 290 megawatts.
• The project’s offtaker is El Paso Electric, through a twenty year power purchase agreement at $0.0579 per kilowatt-hour, significantly below the $0.0842 per kilowatt-hour for power from a typical combined-cycle natural gas plant.

Dive Insight:

Macho Springs developer First Solar is the world’s biggest solar power plant builder and the second biggest module manufacturer in the world. Macho Springs is expected to go online by the end of May.

Southern Company’s increasing engagement with solar, in the absence of renewables mandates in the southeastern states where it operates, suggests the powerhouse utility has seen the writing on the wall for its earlier inclinations toward coal and nuclear power.