Southern, Turner Renewable Buy Third U.S. Solar-Power Facility

Southern Co. (SO), the second-largest U.S. power company by market value, bought its third solar farm in partnership with billionaire Ted Turner’s renewable-energy business.

Southern and Turner Renewable Energy purchased the 30- megawatt Spectrum Solar project in Clark County, Nevada, from MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR), the Atlanta-based power company today in a statement. Terms weren’t disclosed.

The deal extends the relationship between two companies that have been collaborating on renewable-energy projects since January 2010. They teamed up in June to buy MEMC’s 20-megawatt Apex project in Nevada, and in March 2010 acquired from First Solar Inc. (FSLR) the 30-megawatt Cimarron project on land next to Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch near Raton, New Mexico.

MEMC’s SunEdison unit will begin construction on the Spectrum plant in October and is expected to finish in the second quarter, according to the statement.

NV Energy Inc. will buy Spectrum’s electricity under a 25- year agreement.

Turner Renewable Energy is a unit of Turner Enterprises Inc., a closely held company that manages the investments and land holdings of Ted Turner, including more than 2 million acres in the U.S. and Argentina.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Doom in New York at jdoom1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net