US-based solar energy company Borrego Solar has planned three PV solar power plants in Puerto Rico to leverage the prospective market for the sector.
The planned projects include 2.3MW and 1.2MW plants, both of which are scheduled for completion by the end of 2013.
In addition, it is also outlining plans to commence the development of a 20MW plant in 2014, reported Bloomberg.
Commenting on the developments, Borrego Solar senior project developer Alex Sarly remarked that the company has financed all its projects through funds allotted by a consortium of US banks.
The surge of projects comes on the back of new regulations introduced by the federal government to boost the solar project portfolio of the territory.
Puerto Rico Power Authority (PRPA) has claimed that it will grant power-purchase agreements for the projects that exceed 5MW generation capacity.
Also, the plants with generation capacity of more than 1MW can seek more than 50% of the project costs in funds from the authorities.
“There’s very strong potential for solar here in Puerto Rico for a number of reasons, not least the new net metering rules. It also benefits from a very high cost of power, which is a function of it being an island grid with about 70 percent of generation from oil,” explained Sarly.
Meanwhile, Borrego has secured a power purchase agreement of 20 years with PRPA to sell electricity output at $0.15 a kilowatt-hour price.