Avangrid, a Connecticut-based renewable energy company, has begun commercial operations of its 57MW DC Camino Solar Project in Kern County, California. The facility includes 105,000 solar panels and is expected to power approximately 14,000 homes. Built with local union labor, the project created around 100 construction jobs and occupies both private land and public land managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. According to Avangrid, the plant will generate $15 million in state and local taxes over its lifetime and provide $150,000 annually in lease payments to landowners. Camino Solar is Avangrid’s seventh project in California, bringing its total installed capacity in the state to about 600MW. The company’s national operating capacity now stands at 10.5GW. The company also recently began operations at the 202MW Powell Creek Solar Project in Ohio.