RWE's U.S. Hickory Park solar project with co-located storage facility in operation

• 195.5 megawatt facility located in southwest Georgia
• Solar PV array coupled with 40 megawatt 2-hour battery energy storage system
• Project has a 30-year utility contract Power Purchase Agreement with Georgia Power

AUSTIN, Texas, June 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 

Silvia Ortin, CEO RWE Renewables Americas: "Projects like Hickory Park, With its co-located battery storage systems, will become increasingly important as renewables from a bigger part of the energy mix. This project plays an important role in expanding our operating portfolio in the U.S., one of our focus markets."

RWE Renewables' Hickory Park Solar project, a 195.5-megawatt (MWac) facility coupled with a 40 MW 2-hour battery storage system, located in Mitchell County, Georgia, is in operation. RWE is operator/manager of the solar facility, selling the energy and renewable attributes from the facility to Georgia Power through its Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI) program.

In November 2019, the company announced it entered into a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Georgia Power, an investor-owned public utility that serves approximately 2.7 million customers.

"Our largest solar project in the Americas is now benefiting the state of Georgia, including tax revenue to local counties and school districts," said Silvia Ortin, CEO RWE Renewables Americas. "We are pleased to develop this project and advance solar in the state of Georgia as part of Georgia Power's REDI program."

The project connects more than 650,000 solar panels, which together covers an area of about 1,800 acres. The integration of a state-of-the-art DC-coupled storage system allows the project's energy yield to be optimized and increase the predictability of injection of locally produced electricity into the Georgia Power grid. This demonstrates how RWE is able to propose storage solutions that fit its customers' needs to integrate more clean energy into the grid.

The U.S. accounts for more than one third of the RWE Group's renewables capacity playing a key role in RWE's strategy to grow its renewables business and to become carbon neutral by 2040.

Our very experienced U.S. team is driving our expansion plans not only in onshore wind, solar PV and storage, but also in offshore wind, to contribute to RWE's ambitious goal of 50 gigawatts net installed capacity in 2030.

RWE constructs, owns and operates some of the highest performing wind, solar and energy storage projects in the U.S. As a leading renewable energy player, the company has more than 30 projects in operation in the U.S., totalling an installed generation capacity of more than 5,000 MW (4,288 MW pro rata) to date with more to come.

The company, together with our joint venture partner National Grid Ventures, secured area OCS-A 0539 in the New York Bight offshore lease auction in the U.S. with a potential to host 3 GW of capacity, enough to power 1.1 million U.S. homes. In addition, RWE has entered a joint venture, New England Aqua Ventus, focused on floating offshore wind in the state of Maine.

For more information, go to americas.rwe.com.

For inquiries:

Matt Tulis
Communications Manager
RWE Renewables
M. +1 512 698 4043
[email protected]

RWE

RWE is leading the way to a green energy world. With an extensive investment and growth strategy, the company will expand its powerful, green generation capacity to 50 gigawatts internationally by 2030. RWE is investing €50 billion gross for this purpose in this decade. The portfolio is based on offshore and onshore wind, solar, hydrogen, batteries, biomass and gas.
RWE Supply & Trading provides tailored energy solutions for large customers. RWE has locations in the attractive markets of Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. The company is responsibly phasing out nuclear energy and coal. Government-mandated phaseout roadmaps have been defined for both of these energy sources. RWE employs around 19,000 people worldwide and has a clear target: to get to net zero by 2040. On its way there, the company has set itself ambitious targets for all activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions. The Science Based Targets initiative has confirmed that these emission reduction targets are in line with the Paris Agreement. Very much in the spirit of the company's purpose: Our energy for a sustainable life.

SOURCE RWE Renewables