Spanish wind power specialist Gamesa is to make its first foray into photovoltaics with the development of 10MW of solar capacity in India.
The company said its recently published business plan had identified PV as a possible future commercial opportunity to complement its traditional wind activities.
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Gamesa said its debut into the solar market would take the form of an engineering, procurement and construction contract for four separate projects in the state of Tamil Nadu. The clients are three Indian textile firms, some of which it has already worked with on wind projects.
“This debut solar contract fits with the strategic goal enshrined in our 2015-2017 plan of exploring opportunities in businesses that complement the wind industry. The solar segment in India offers a potential of 750GW, and the local government target is to reach 100GW in 2022 from 3.8GW today,” said Ramesh Kymal, Gamesa's CEO in India.
“Gamesa is keen to accompany its customers as they develop solar power projects in India, leveraging its know-how developing and managing renewable energy projects as well as its established and competitive local supply chain.”
The photovoltaic equipment to be fitted in these developments – seven Gamesa E-1.37 MW inverters and two Gamesa E-1.1 MW inverters – will be supplied from the Gamesa Electric factory in Coslada (Madrid).
Wind deal with SunEdison
In related news, Gamesa has agreed a provisional tie-up with leading solar and latterly wind developer SunEdison.
Under a memorandum of understanding announced last week, the two companies agreed to form a joint venture that aims to develop up to 1GW of wind power plants by 2018.
Each firm would own a 50% stake in the joint venture, with Gamesa supplying the wind turbines, operations and maintenance expertise, and possibly EPC services for the projects.
Once built, SunEdison would acquire the projects from the JV.
The deal accelerates SunEdison’s shift from being a pure-play solar developer into other forms of clean energy, a process that began earlier this year when it bought US wind developer First Wind.
“This agreement will accelerate SunEdison's drive to respond to rapid growth in global wind markets,” said Paul Gaynor, SunEdison executive vice president of the Americas and EMEA. “By partnering with Gamesa, one of the world's leading wind technology and development companies, we're particularly well positioned to capture the opportunity in India and Mexico, two regions where we already have a strong solar presence.”
SunEdison and its yieldco, TerraForm Power, agreed a separate wind deal this week, signing a US$2 billion agreement to acquire net ownership of 930MW of wind plants from US clean energy developer Invenergy Wind.
“TerraForm Power's acquisition of the Invenergy wind plants leverages the power of SunEdison's platform which was enhanced with our acquisition of First Wind in January of 2015,” said Ahmad Chatila, SunEdison chief executive and TerraForm Power chairman. “Together with TerraForm Power, SunEdison's development platform will change how energy is generated, distributed and owned around the world.”