Avangrid just broke ground on its first solar farm in California

Avangrid (NYSE: AGR), one of the US’s largest clean energy operators, has begun construction on its first solar farm in California. Avangrid, which already has 8.7 GW of installed capacity of renewables in the US, is building the 57-megawatt (MW) Camino Solar Project in Kern County, California. The company already has six wind farms in the state. The solar farm’s 105,000 solar panels will generate enough clean electricity to power around 14,000 households annually. It’s expected to create more than 100 construction jobs and several permanent jobs once complete. Camino Solar is adjacent to Avangrid’s 189 MW Manzana Wind Farm, which came online commercially in 2012. It sits on a combination of private land and more than 200 acres of public lands managed by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The solar farm is in an area scientifically analyzed and identified as suitable for clean energy development as part of the BLM’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. “Public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management provide sites for environmentally responsible renewable energy development such as the Camino Solar Project,” said BLM California desert district manager Shelly Lynch. “This project supports the nation’s transition to a clean energy economy by expanding access to clean energy, increasing reliability for the state’s power grid, creating jobs, and boosting local economies.”