Bechtel has been chosen to provide design, engineering and construction for the final three phases of the $2.5-billion, 1.6-GW Mammoth Solar facility in Starke County in Northwest Indiana. 

Over the next two years, the Mammoth South, Mammoth Central I and Mammoth Central II phases of the project, being developed by Philadelphia-based Doral Renewables, will include installation of approximately 2 million solar modules, 1 million of which will be U.S.-made, Bechtel says.  

The three phases total $1.5 billion and are expected to produce 900 megawatt of clean energy capacity, according to the contractor. When fully completed, the solar facility—including the first phase, Mammoth North, which completed in 2024—will generate enough energy to power approximately 275,000 households annually. 

The Mammoth South, Central I and Central II projects will all be ground-mounted single-axis PV systems utilizing approximately 20,000 tons of Indiana steel in aggregate, according to Doral Renewables, which has granted Bechtel Full Notice to Proceed (FNTP), enabling the contractor to complete design and begin permanent construction work, including installing solar panels, power cables and substations.

Bechtel is leading the project’s design and delivery, overseeing all aspects of engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and project management. The company says it plans to use a digital delivery approach and autonomous technologies to streamline construction. 

Scott Austin, Bechtel’s general manager of renewables and clean power, said in a news release that “a project of this scale depends on strong collaboration with local building trades to ensure access to the skilled workforce needed.” 

Austin said the company is working closely with craft professionals to assure the project’s needed labor supply. At its peak, the project is expected to create more than 1,200 jobs, including at least 15% dedicated to apprenticeships.

When the project is completed, Doral Renewables will implement agrivoltaic initiatives across the 13,000-acre site, which includes integrating on-site livestock grazing and crop cultivation around the panels. This dual-use technique enables local landowners to continue farming operations and maximize land use, Doral says. 

As solar facilities spread across the country, the use of agrivoltaics is being adopted to combat concerns that solar farms will replace farmland. The same attributes of flat land and sun that make land suitable for agriculture also make it desirable for solar facilities.

“Integrating livestock in solar projects has been around for a very limited time, certainly on the scale deployed, and that will be deployed in Mammoth Solar,” Doral said in a statement. 

Doral Renewables has selected NovaSource Power Services as the operations and maintenance provider and generator-operator for the project. 

“The majority of these [agrivoltaic] efforts will occur during the operation phase of the project and require an operations and management partner with both professional experience and a similar community-oriented approach,” said Chris Hinton, vice president of asset management at Doral, in a news release. 

The company announced on May 15 that it had closed on project financing for the three phases that Bechtel will build, including $1.3 billion in construction debt financing for the projects, consisting of $412 million of construction-to-term loan facilities, $614 million of tax equity bridge loans and a $259-million letter of credit facility. The closing was completed simultaneously with Doral’s signing of an over $200-million tax equity commitment for the Mammoth South project from Truist Bank.