EDF Renewables North America has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for its 117MW solar PV project in Riverside County.

The Sapphire Solar project is set to come online by the end of 2026 and will supply power to the cities of Anaheim, Pasadena and Vernon through their participation in SCPPA. The agreement also contains an option for SCPPA to access a 236MWh battery energy storage system.

“Sapphire Solar will supply 117 MWac of solar capacity and a 59MWac/236 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to our growing renewable and energy storage resource mix,” said Michael Webster, executive director of SCPPA. “This project will help our Participating SCPPA Members meet and exceed renewable energy and resource adequacy requirements, while at the same time minimising costs and maintaining reliability.”

EDF renewables – a subsidiary of France’s state-owned EDF Group – has developed over 16GW of solar, storage and wind projects in the US. It recently signed a virtual PPA with McDonald’s for its 332MW Texas solar facility.

In California, the company connected a 475MW solar-plus-storage project to the grid last August, located on public land. The Sapphire Solar project will be situated on private land.

Riverside County also hosts EDF Renewables’ Desert Harvest I solar project which became operational in 2020. Solar plays a big role in California’s energy generation and transition framework, and will have to continue being installed at record rates if the state is to meet its targets over the next quarter-century.

This story first appeared on PV Tech.