SunPower has launched a remote operations control center (ROCC) in Austin, Texas for monitoring and controlling large-scale solar power plants the company operates in the United States, including those that are sold to 8point3 Energy Partners LP. It is also being used to monitor operations at solar power plants SunPower has constructed in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia.

"SunPower's remote operations control center is designed to optimize energy production at our solar power plants, allowing utilities and power plant owners to better manage their energy," said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO and president. "Increasingly, utilities are adding solar to their energy mix to provide their customers with reliable, cost-effective and emission-free energy."

The ROCC employs eight staff members who provide monitoring and controls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It is fully compliant with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) including critical infrastructure protection (CIP) reliability standards. SunPower anticipates the facility will be remotely controlling approximately 1.3GW of solar power plants by 2016.

"As an energy services provider, our ROCC enables SunPower to be a good manager of the utility grid, and enhance safety at our power plant sites," Werner added. "It is scalable to accommodate the anticipated continued growth of our global power plant fleet."