Tempe, Ariz.: First Solar, Inc. announced February 10 that Apple has committed $848 million for clean energy from First Solar’s California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, Calif. Apple will receive 130 megawatts AC of the solar project under a 25-year power purchase agreement, the largest agreement in the renewables industry to provide clean energy to a commercial end user.
The 2,900-acre California Flats Solar Project occupies 3 percent of a property owned by Hearst Corporation in Cholame, California. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2015, and to be completed by the end of 2016. The output of the remaining 150MW of the project will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric under a separate long-term PPA, and the project is fully subscribed between the Apple and PG&E PPAs.
In January, the Monterey County Planning Commission unanimously approved the California Flats Solar Project, sending the project to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, which considered final approval of the project soon afterwards.
Within minutes of announcing the solar deal, Apple’s stock ended the trading day with a record valuation of $711 billion, making it the first U.S. company to cross the $700 billion mark.