Ground broken on rPlus Energies' 200MW Iron County solar project

Salt Lake City renewable energy developer rPlus Energies has begun construction of the 200-megawatt Appaloosa Solar 1 project in Iron County. This project is the largest in Utah to reach this milestone.

The project is being built adjacent to the 80-megawatt Three Peaks Solar project that was completed in 2016 and was developed by the same leadership team that now heads rPlus Energies.

“We are proud to be back in Iron County with a third project, the largest to date,” said Luigi Resta, rPlus Energies’ president and CEO. “Iron County has been a fantastic, supportive community and we are happy to continue our approach to build in Utah, by Utah and for Utah with this project.’

Greenbacker Capital Management a Portland, Maine-based renewable energy asset manager, has invested in Appaloosa Solar 1. The transaction represents the latest collaboration between a Greenbacker affiliate and rPlus Energies who recently developed, built and commissioned the 80-megawatt Graphite Solar project in Carbon County.

“Building durable partnerships is critical to building the future of energy and we at Greenbacker are incredibly pleased to continue our partnership with rPlus,” said Ben Tillar, vice president of investments at Greenbacker. “We’re excited to contribute to utility-scale solar plants like Appaloosa, which will support green jobs and help Utah run on cost-effective renewable power.”

Sundt Construction, an Arizona company that built the Graphite project, is providing engineering, procurement and construction for Appaloosa Solar 1. The rPlus team will remain involved with construction management and community relations. The project is expected to utilize many local vendors during construction and bring approximately 250 construction-related jobs to the area.

The Appaloosa Solar 1 project has two long-term power purchase agreements in place with PacifiCorp on behalf of Facebook parent company Meta. The contract was developed under Rocky Mountain Power’s Schedule 34 green energy tariff, which allows large customers to purchase renewable energy generated on their behalf.

Through partnership with the private sector, municipalities and utilities, rPlus Energies develops utility-scale power plants and has over 30 projects across 15 market areas in the U.S. in active development, including solar, wind, pumped storage hydro and solar-plus-battery. The company is a subsidiary of the Gardner Group, a Utah-based, family-owned real estate, renewable energy, technology and philanthropy firm.