OREANDA-NEWS. Southern Co. has finalized its purchase of the planned 30MW Pawpaw solar farm in central Georgia from developer Longview Solar.

Southern Power, the company's wholesale generating subsidiary, will sell power from Pawpaw to utility Georgia Power, also a Southern subsidiary, over a 30-year power purchase agreement. Georgia Power will retain the rights to associated renewable energy credits (RECs).

Construction of the plant in Taylor County is scheduled to begin this month, with commercial operation likely to start at the end of the year, Southern said.

Terms of the deal between Southern and Longview Solar were not made public.

For Southern, the Pawpaw facility is part of a larger solar push across Georgia, which includes the purchase of a 103MW project last month and two projects totaling 99MW in February. In March, state regulators approved Georgia Power's plan to add 100MW of distributed solar resources.

Renewables are a key part of the company's fuel diversification strategy, Southern chief executive Thomas Fanning said.