Houston-based Buckeye has selected Black & Veatch to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the planned Project Parker photovoltaic solar project in central Texas, the company said on Jan. 27. The 270-megawatt solar project will add to the company’s growing and diversified portfolio of lower-carbon solutions.

“We are committed to deploying our deep expertise in clean energy to support clients on the leading edge of the energy transition such as Buckeye partners with their decarbonization goals,” Mario Azar, president of Black & Veatch’s energy and process industries business, said.

Project Parker will be located on two adjacent sites near Waco, Texas, in Falls County. Construction of the project, which will include more than 500,000 solar panels, is to be completed in early 2023. Buckeye announced the initial project investment in August of this year.

“Our strategy is squarely focused on energy diversity and lower-carbon solutions, and we are excited to partner with Black & Veatch to advance this critical solar project,” Todd J. Russo, Buckeye’s executive vice president, strategy and alternative energy, said. “Project Parker will further expand Buckeye’s growing renewable portfolio and add additional momentum to our ESG initiatives and continued progress in the space.”

The U.S. solar market grew by 43% in 2020, nearly double the 23% increase in 2019, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight 2020 Year-in-Review report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie in 2021. In the same year, the installed U.S. electric generating capacity was a record 19.2 gigawatts. Wood Mackenzie expects the U.S. solar market to quadruple by 2030, when the equivalent of one in eight American homes is projected to have solar.

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