Meet Scarlet – Your New Solar Power Plant
Howard Cheng, CEO of Ava Community Energy (left) and Lori Mitchell, Director of San José Clean Energy (right)
When you pay your electric bill, you’re getting more than cool AC on a hot day, you’re also making an investment in the future of clean energy in San José and California.
On Wednesday, July 17, we celebrated the ribbon cutting of Scarlet Solar Energy Park, a 1600-acre solar power plant in Fresno County. San José Clean Energy and Ava Community Energy cut the ribbon together with EDP Renewables North America, bringing together the renewable energy construction company with the two Community Choice Energy providers behind the contract.
With 100 megawatts (MW) of solar energy capacity for San José Clean Energy, Scarlet is now powering the equivalent of nearly 60,000 homes in San José. The solar panels use technology that allows them to follow the sun, achieving optimal energy generation any time of day. The 10 MW of battery storage on site also allows us to ‘put sunshine in a bottle,’ so some of that solar energy harnessed during the day can charge your phone or even electric car at night as well.
Innovative projects like Scarlet bring San José one step closer to becoming one of the first major cities to be carbon-neutral by 2030, a goal that San José Clean Energy plans to meet.
“Simply put, Scarlet I is contributing to a more reliable and sustainable power grid for California. When we launched over five years ago, it is precisely projects like this that our Mayor and Council had envisioned. I’m proud to say that our community of partners is delivering on that promise,” said San José Clean Energy Director Lori Mitchell.
SJCE Scarlet QUICK Facts:
- 100 Megawatts of solar power – enough to power nearly 60k homes
- 10 Megawatts of battery storage for solar power at night
- 1600-acre solar power plant in Fresno County, CA
Creating Jobs
Scarlet has also given a boost to the local economy in the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas by providing more than 230 union labor construction jobs over the past five years, along with millions of dollars for small businesses and local governments in the coming decades.
One of those small businesses is Indart Solar Sheep Grazing, a family-owned Central Valley farm and livestock business that’s been passed down for three generations. Since Ryan Indart purchased the business from his father in 2009, he has exponentially grown the company thanks to projects like Scarlet. Indart has a couple thousand sheep graze the 2,000 acres that encompass Scarlet Solar. This is an eco-friendly way to reduce fire risk for the landowner by managing vegetation and allows Indart to employ around 15 people to work for his farming business. Win-win.
Training Ground
In 2023, Cal Fire, Fresno County Fire Protection District, local fire departments, and the county volunteer fire department (California Fire Agencies) held their yearly district meeting and training drills onsite at the plant. The fire professionals learned specific fire suppression techniques for the equipment onsite and other large energy generation plants like Scarlet Solar. Fresno County Sheriff, California Highway Patrol, and the local police department from Mendota, CA, have also accepted invitations to conduct training exercises onsite.
Expect more exciting projects like Scarlet to bring clean energy, stable prices, and a healthy environment to San José, California, and beyond.
