Modesto Irrigation District (MID), K Road Power Holdings, LLC (K Road) and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) announced the completion of K Road's 25-megawatt (AC) McHenry Solar Plant in Modesto, Calif., which was designed and constructed by SunPower. The project created nearly 150 construction jobs, and is generating the equivalent amount of power for approximately 6,000 homes.

"The McHenry Solar Project takes advantage of our unlimited solar resource to provide clean, reliable electricity to customers, while helping MID comply with California's renewable energy requirements for utilities," said MID Assistant General Manager of Electric Resources Roger VanHoy.  "When MID buys power generated from utility-scale solar, our whole community shares the promise of emission-free energy from the sun."

K Road owns the McHenry Solar Plant, for which SunPower is now providing operations and maintenance services. Under a 25-year power purchase agreement, MID is buying the power generated by the project's solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, helping the utility achieve California's 33 percent renewable portfolio standard.

"The McHenry Solar Plant is a world-class solar project, and represents K Road's commitment to own and operate a diversified portfolio of solar PV generating assets under long term supply relationships," said William Kriegel, K Road's chairman and chief executive officer.  "We are proud to supply clean, renewable electricity to communities served by the Modesto Irrigation District." 

At the site, SunPower installed the SunPower® Oasis® Power Plant product, which is fully integrated, modular solar technology engineered to rapidly deploy utility-scale solar projects while minimizing land use. This is the first installed commercial solar power system to use high-efficiency panels manufactured with the third-generation SunPower Maxeon® solar cell, which offers world-record efficiency by delivering sunlight to electricity conversion efficiency of up to 24 percent.

"The McHenry Solar Plant created jobs and economic opportunity in Stanislaus County during its seven months of construction, and is now delivering 25 megawatts of solar power to MID's customers, helping to meet the region's growing energy demand," said SunPower President Howard Wenger. "SunPower is pleased to provide our partners with reliable and leading technology that delivers more power than competing technologies over the life of the system."