Bechtel and Sabanci Renewables Inc. partner to grow U.S. solar market

Bechtel has been selected to build a 272 MWdc solar facility for Sabanci Renewables, Inc. in Fort Bend County, Texas. The Fort Bend facility will be the first utility-scale solar project in the United States for Sabanci Renewables, Inc., a subsidiary of Sabanci Holding, one of Turkey's leading companies. Sabanci Renewables will own and operate the facility.

Bechtel's scope includes engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and project management for the Texas facility. Project construction will begin in the first quarter of 2023 with completion of the project expected in the second quarter of 2024. The solar energy generated at Cutlass Solar Two will connect to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' Houston Zone, providing enough electricity to power approximately 40,000 homes with zero-carbon electricity, saving 600,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.

"Bechtel is honored to partner with Sabanci Renewables to support a clean energy future," said Kelley Brown, EPC Operations manager, North America Core Renewables, Bechtel Infrastructure. "Bechtel's use of new technology in robotics and digital management will help move Cutlass Solar Two from construction to operations in record time, bringing additional renewable energy generation to Texas."

Bechtel offers cutting-edge innovation, such as automated equipment for efficiency and use of robotics for digital mapping, to deliver world-class renewable energy facilities. Bechtel has developed and built high-quality renewable energy assets by deploying streamlined integrated project development and EPC solutions for customers in the market facing constraints amidst unprecedented global demand for clean energy.

"Sabanci and Bechtel closely collaborated to develop the project on a record schedule, and we are confident our partnership will successfully deliver our first U.S. renewable energy facility as planned," said Ismail Bilgin, CEO of Sabanci Renewables, Inc. "Bechtel's strong reputation for successful EPC execution, including its global supply chain expertise, its ability to attract and train local workforce, and its reputation to self-perform design and construction of clean power facilities across the U.S. made them the right choice to build the project. We believe this is the start of a long-lasting partnership developing renewable energy projects in the U.S."

Bechtel will engage regional vendors in Texas and the U.S. Gulf Coast states and implement training programs for local community residents. During construction, Bechtel will employ more than 200 people from the local area including electricians, operators, safety professionals, solar installers, and general laborers. Local and on-site training will be provided to all project personnel focusing on quality inspections; OSHA Safety; First Aid/CPR; and solar-specific installation, tools, and equipment operation. 

Bechtel Enterprises, the company's project development and financing arm, was instrumental in the development of the Cutlass Solar Two project. 

"Bechtel is advancing local decarbonization and resiliency efforts throughout the United States by efficiently creating new clean energy projects with our integrated development plus EPC approach," said Matt Strangfeld, Managing Director, Clean Energy Development.

Bechtel is currently working on several gigawatts of solar power projects in various stages of development and construction throughout the United States. Applying its EPC experience and expertise, Bechtel is involved from the conceptual stage through commissioning and handover to ensure schedule certainty, local content, systems integration, and sustainability for innovative clean energy and renewables projects.

Bechtel is continually looking for talent and is actively recruiting experienced craft professionals, engineers, estimators, and project managers seeking to support making the world a cleaner, greener, safer place. Area residents interested in working on the project can learn more by visiting https://jobs.bechtel.com/.

About Bechtel

Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers' objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world's infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place. 

Bechtel serves the Energy; Infrastructure; Manufacturing & Technology; Mining & Metals; and Nuclear, Security & Environmental markets. www.bechtel.com

About Sabanci

Sabanci Renewables Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sabanci Holding, a leading Turkish conglomerate founded in 1967. Sabanci Holding is engaged in a wide variety of business activities through its subsidiaries and affiliates, mainly in the banking, financial services, energy, industrials, building materials and retail sectors. Under energy business, Sabanci has strong reputation on development and operations of power plant projects and successfully developed and currently operating 4 GW of diversified power plant portfolio in Turkey, in five different asset classes. Through Sabanci Renewables, the group targets operational or late-stage development utility scale solar and on-shore wind projects predominantly in ERCOT/Texas market.