Fresno locks in 20-year solar agreement with private developer, $122 million savings projection announced
The City of Fresno’s Department of Public Utilities approved a 27 MW solar-and-battery portfolio across three municipal facilities in a 20-year power purchase agreement with ForeFront Power that commits the city to buying electricity at a fixed rate below grid prices through 2046. The first of those three installations entered commercial operation in late March 2026 at the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant.
The project deploys Erthos Earth Mount Solar technology, which mounts solar modules flat on the ground with no structural steel racking underneath. ForeFront Power selected the design in 2023 after determining that inflation and supply-chain disruptions had pushed the cost of a conventional ground-mount system high enough to make the project financially unviable at the originally planned electricity rate.
Under the agreement’s terms, ForeFront Power owns the system. The city purchases electricity from it at a rate the developer set below what the local utility charges. The cost savings ForeFront realized by eliminating steel racking, associated labor, and expensive civil upgrades enabled the company to price the power purchase agreement low enough for the city to approve it.
The three-site portfolio includes the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Facility, the Southeast Surface Water Treatment Facility, and the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility. Combined, the installations total 27 MW-DC of solar capacity paired with battery storage. ForeFront Power reports the portfolio is projected to save Fresno ratepayers $122 million by 2045.
The Northeast plant’s system includes 3,132 EliTe Solar 550-watt modules and Chint inverters. Since entering commercial operation, the installation has operated at an average of 101% of expected energy production and delivered 862 MWh to the city.
Erthos modules sit directly on the earth with no row spacing, a configuration the company describes as the highest energy density of any solar architecture in the industry. The modules can follow site contours up to a 15% slope, which allowed the system to adapt to the treatment plant’s natural topography without expensive grading work.
Flat-mounted panels accumulate dust and debris faster than tilted systems. Erthos addresses this with the ErthBot, a dry nylon brush autonomous cleaning robot that covers more than 3.5 MW-DC of array per unit. The robot deploys nightly as needed and returns to its charging dock after each cleaning cycle. Under an Energy Services Agreement between ForeFront Power and Erthos, Erthos handles operations and maintenance of the cleaning system.
ForeFront Power reports the installation took longer than expected because the contractor’s crew—12 union workers at peak—was installing Earth Mount Solar for the first time. The crew received training at Erthos headquarters before beginning work.
Heavy rains delayed grading work required to flatten the project area while preserving site drainage characteristics. Integrating ForeFront’s EPC team with Erthos during the design stage and managing logistics and procurement in later phases presented additional challenges.
The Breakdown
- The City of Fresno Department of Public Utilities signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with ForeFront Power for a 27 MW solar-and-battery portfolio across three municipal water and wastewater facilities.
- ForeFront Power owns the installations. The city buys electricity from them at a fixed rate below what the local utility charges.
- The first installation, at the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant, entered commercial operation in late March 2026. It uses Erthos Earth Mount Solar technology, which mounts modules flat on the ground with no structural steel racking.
- ForeFront Power selected Erthos in 2023 after determining that inflation and supply-chain disruptions had pushed the cost of a conventional system high enough to make the project economically unviable at the electricity rate the city would accept.
- The three-site portfolio is projected to save Fresno ratepayers $122 million by 2045.
- ForeFront Power will operate and maintain the portfolio at no cost to the city for the duration of the agreement. Erthos maintains the cleaning robots under a separate Energy Services Agreement.
What This Means for You
This agreement locks the city into 20 years of purchasing electricity from a private developer rather than the local utility. ForeFront Power reports the portfolio is projected to save ratepayers $122 million by 2045.
What to Watch
ForeFront Power reports the Northeast plant has operated at 101% of expected production since March 2026, but that represents five months of data on a system designed to run for 20 years.
The city signed a power purchase agreement, not a construction contract. ForeFront Power owns the installations.
Erthos technology is relatively new. The company was founded in 2019.
The Fresno installation is ForeFront Power’s first deployment of Erthos.
