SOURCE: Sacramento Business Journal

Are Europeans, rather than Americans, most intent on pushing solar forward in the U.S.?

A Spanish – not an American -- company is negotiating to lease about 160 acres from the Port of West Sacramento to build a $175 million, 24-megawatt solar power plant.

The plant would provide power for about 6,000 homes and is significantly larger than any solar power plant operating in the United States.

The largest photovoltaic power plant in the country is a 14-megawatt facility at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, according to the nonprofit Solar Electric Power Association in Washington, D.C. Larger projects, however, are in the works.

The Sacramento-Yolo Port District Commission voted unanimously this month to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Navarra, Spain-based Otras Producciones de Energia Fotovoltaico (OPDE) for installation of the solar operation.

(SCD.COM Newswire summary posted 9-21-09)