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Tucson Electric Power Co. has signed a deal with a Maryland solar-energy company to finance, build, install and maintain 15 megawatts of solar power in the next five years.

The deal with SunEdison LLC would provide so-called distrubuted solar generation — installed at ratepayer sites rather than at a central utility location — to commercial and government customers in the service areas of TEP and sister utility UniSource Energy Services.

"For perspective,' said TEP spokesman Joe Salkowski, "we have one megawatt of distributed solar generation in Tucson right now. This will add significantly to the distributed solar resources in our community."

Valerie Rauluk, Arizona market developer for the company, which is based in Beltsville, Md., said SunEdison has already signed up its first customers for the systems, and plans to build at least three megawatts a year for the next five years. A megawatt, or one million watts, is enough to power to meet the needs of 150 average Tucson homes.

This particular plan is for ground-mounted photovoltaic systems, Rauluk said, and will not be available to residential customers.

TEP serves about 400,000 customers in the Tucson area; sister utility UniSource Energy Services serves about 240,000 customers in Mohave and Santa Cruz counties.

The government or commercial customers will sign an agreement to purchase power from SunEdison for 20 years, Rauluk said, at a price comparable to what they currently pay for electricity. SunEdison, in addition to designing and building the systems, would also maintain them.

"You pay for the energy that comes off the system," Rauluk said.

Rauluk said the company has plans to offer similar deals to Arizona residents in the near future.

"We are in the process of developing another proposal for TEP, APS (Arizona Public Service Co.) and the co-ops (utility cooperatives) that has some unique features that would allow everyone to participate in solar," she said.

SunEdison has built similar systems for schools, auto dealerships and stores such as Kohl's, Walmart, Costco and Staples in Hawaii, California, Connecticut and New Jersey, according to its Web site.

Rauluk said details of the Arizona plan will be released at a later date.

The company will bring an "interactive solar exhibit" to the University of Arizona on Oct. 18 and 19, she said — part of a "City Tour for Solar" organized by five renewable energy companies. It is stationed this week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Rauluk said.