Desert Stateline LLC, in a notice of self-certification as an exempt wholesale generator filed Sept. 23 at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said that its 300-MW solar project in California is in construction.
Desert Stateline is engaged exclusively in the business of owning, operating and supplying at wholesale capacity, energy and ancillary services from a 300 MW (ac) solar plant in eastern San Bernardino County, California, about two miles from the California-Nevada border.
It is a subsidiary of Southern Renewable Partnerships LLC (SRP), which owns 100% of the Class A Membership Interests, which interests grant managerial and operational control over Desert Stateline and the facility. The balance of ownership interest in Desert Stateline are passive in nature and are held by unaffiliated investors as Class B Membership Interests. SRP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Co. (NYSE: SO).
The Desert Stateline facility, which is now under construction, will interconnect to the Southern California Edison service area and deliver energy to the 220-kV Ivanpah Substation in the balancing authority area of the California Independent System Operator via its 2.7-mile generator-owned interconnection line.
All of the facility’s output is contractually committed to Southern California Edison for a period of 20 years under a long-term, firm power purchase agreement (PPA). Desert Stateline has pending a recent application under Section 205 of the Federal Power Act for market-based rate tariff authority.
Southern Power on Sept. 2 had announced the acquisition of a controlling interest in the company’s largest solar asset – the 300-MW Desert Stateline Facility – from First Solar, which will retain the remaining interest in the project. First Solar is building and will operate and maintain the Desert Stateline facility. Construction of the plant began in October 2014 and it is expected to be completed in phases. The plant is slated to be fully operational in the third quarter of 2016.
