K Road And SunPower Complete 25-Megawatt McHenry Solar Plant For Modesto Irrigation District

MODESTO, Calif., Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Modesto Irrigation District (MID), K Road Power Holdings, LLC (K Road) and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) announced today 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."

About Modesto Irrigation District

The Modesto Irrigation District (MID), located in California's Central Valley, provides electric service and irrigation water and treats surface water for drinking. MID is an independent, publicly owned utility providing benefits that include community ownership, control by a locally-elected Board of Directors, and business operation on a not-for-profit basis. MID is committed to providing reliable service at the lowest cost possible.

MID's electric service area includes the greater Modesto area north of the Tuolumne River, Waterford, Salida, Mountain House (Northwest of Tracy) and parts of Ripon, Escalon, Oakdale and Riverbank.

About K Road Power

K Road Power is an independent power developer focused on developing, financing, owning and operating utility‐scale solar projects. Founded and led by William Kriegel, K Road's senior management is made up of long time power sector professionals from Sithe Energies, AES Corporation, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs. Together, K Road principals have a 25‐year history of successfully developing and safely operating over 20,000 megawatts of conventional and renewable power assets, consistently creating exceptional value for both shareholders and project stakeholders. K Road promotes sustainable, renewable energy development with a focus on reliability and efficiency in concert with environmental and social responsibility. K Road has offices in New York City and San Francisco. In August 2011, Barclays Natural Resource Investments ("BNRI"), a division of Barclays Bank PLC, entered a partnership with K Road Power to equity fund the continued development, construction, and operations of K Road Power's utility-scale solar portfolio.  BNRI partners with top quality management teams to invest in the global natural resources space, particularly upstream oil & gas, mining, power & renewables.  It was founded in 2006, has as of April 2012 committed $2.1 billion equity across 22 portfolio companies and management teams. For more information, please visit www.bnri.com.  For more information on K Road Power, go to www.kroadpower.com. 

About SunPower

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) designs, manufactures and delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems available today. Residential, business, government and utility customers rely on the company's quarter century of experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia. For more information, visit www.sunpowercorp.com.   

SOURCE SunPower Corp.