Aqua Caliente solar facility in Arizona completed

PHOENIX, April 30 (UPI) -- A 290-megawatt solar project in Arizona, Aqua Caliente, "raises the bar" for clean energy development in the United States, its development company said.

NRG Solar, a subsidiary of power company NRG Energy Inc., announced alongside its partner MidAmerican solar that it completed the Aqua Caliente solar facility, which is spread out over 2,400 acres between Yuma and Phoenix, Ariz.

NRG Solar said the facility has the operational capacity to meet the annual energy demands of 230,000 homes. It will avoid 324,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, the equivalent of taking almost 70,000 cars off the road.

"Large-scale utility accomplishments, like our Agua Caliente project, raise the bar in terms of our clean-energy technology and production," NRG Solar President Tom Doyle said in a Tuesday statement.

Electricity produced from the project will be sold to regional utility company Pacific Gas and Electric under the terms of a 25-year purchase agreement.

Aqua Caliente received a $967 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Energy Department.