Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) and First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) announced that the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One project has received the first advance of a loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, finalizing Exelon's ownership of the project.

First Solar is constructing the 230-megawatt photovoltaic power project — one of the largest such projects in the world — in northern Los Angeles County and will operate and maintain the project for Exelon. As Exelon and First Solar previously announced, the first portion of the project is expected to come online in late 2012, with full operation planned for late 2013.

AV Solar Ranch One will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 75,000 average California homes — with no water use, no air emissions and no waste production — displacing approximately 140,000 metric tons of carbon emissions per year, the equivalent of taking approximately 30,000 cars off the road. The project has a 25-year power purchase agreement, approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, with Pacific Gas & Electric Company for the full output of the plant.