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Planet-Profit Report, reporting on sustainable development in the Western United States.

Warren Buffett’s big new solar farm

Catching rays in California

By Ucilia Wang, www.Gigaom.com

Warren Buffet’s power company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, is jumping into solar power and plans to buy up a massive solar farm from First Solar. The planned 550 MW solar panel farm called Topaz is in San Luis Obispo County in central California.

The move is the latest step on the long road to the solar farm actually getting built; it was originally owned by OptiSolar back in 2009. First Solar will build, operate and maintain Topaz, and the sale must be a huge relief for the solar panel maker and project developer, which was able to secure federal loan guarantees for three projects but couldn’t close one for Topaz. It started construction last month and plans to complete it in early 2015.

The project will cost “more than $2 billion,” the companies said, and MidAmerican doesn’t need to borrow money to close the deal.

Read the rest of the story.