The National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO) says that one of its members, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO), has engaged SunEdison to develop a 5.5 MW solar facility. SMECO will own and operate the facility through a wholly owned subsidiary, SMECO Solar LLC.
Pending approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission and final engineering and permitting, the solar farm will be located on 47.2 acres of land owned by SMECO in Hughesville, Md., adjacent to SMECO's new engineering and operations building. The solar facility is scheduled to reach full commercial operation in early 2013.
According to SMECO, the facility is expected to supply generation of 8,471 MWh in its first year of operation and will be net metered with SMECO's engineering and operations building, which will consume over 10% of the project's output.
The project is the result of a request for proposals that was issued by NRCO on behalf of SMECO in March. NRCO and SMECO evaluated 30 submissions before selecting SunEdison.
