Major PV energy provider (PVEP) SunPower has purchased the complete US PV power plant project pipeline of Australia-based renewable energy developer Infigen Energy.
SunPower said that the pipeline totalled around 1.5GW and included three projects totalling 55MW (AC) with power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison in Kern County, California. The company said it expected these projects to be started later this year and be operational sometime in 2016.
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The acquired pipeline was also said to include projects in 11 US states that were at varying stages of development.
Not unsurprisingly, given the pace of key rival SunEdison’s project acquisition spree in recent months, SunPower plans to offer some of the projects for sale to 8point3 Energy Partners the JV YieldCo with First Solar.
The announcement was made ahead of SunPower’s second quarter financial results, however Infigen Energy had announced back on June 26 that it had sold its US PV project pipeline to a ‘global solar energy company’ for US$37.9 million.
Infigen Energy also noted in a statement at the time that it could also receive up to an additional US$30 million form the sale due to terms agreed in the sale. SunPower did not provide financial details of the deal.
Although SunPower highlighted that the three projects with PPA’s would be completed before the proposed US ITC reduction at the end of 2016, the company remains capacity constrained until it announces more details about its next major capacity expansion plans for cells and modules.
Therefore the pace of build out for the acquired pipeline effectively extends well beyond the end of 2016.
“The magnitude of this acquisition speaks to SunPower's financial strength as well as our expertise and leadership in global power plant development,” said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO and president. “It provides an expanded and geographically diverse portfolio of solar projects in the US that may all be generating cost-effective, emission-free power by the end of this decade.”
At the end of the first quarter of 2015, SunPower had a PV project pipeline totalling around 10GW, according to analysis by PV Tech with an estimated capability to complete projects totalling around 1.6GW in 2015, up from an estimated 1.3GW in 2014.