Abengoa Solar will build two 50MW solar thermal plants in Extremadura, Spain with the help of the Japanese trading company, Itochu. Construction work on the Logrosán plants has already begun and they will be operational at some stage in 2012.
“This partnership with a leading Japanese trading firm and the participation of international banks confirms the growth potential of CSP fuelled by the international investment community. For Abengoa Solar, it constitutes another step forward in the execution of our pipeline of projects that have secured their registration in the feed-in-tariff pre-assignment registry set up last year in Spain,” said Santiago Seage, Abengoa Solar’s CEO.
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“Itochu has shown aggressive moves on the environment and new energy field. We have built a competitively superior value chain in the solar energy field by organically linking all areas such as upstream raw materials, midstream intermediary products and downstream system integration and solar power generating plants. This partnership with Abengoa Solar enables us to reinforce the value chain by participating in the concentrating solar power business on a global basis. Itochu will continue to contribute to the world environment,” added Toshihito Tamba, Itochu’s executive vice president.
The total cost of the joint veture is €500 million, with €340 million of this being raised through a project finance loan. Abengoa will be the major stakeholders, with 70%, while Itochu will take the remaining 30%. The companies have also signed a non-exclusive agreement to collaborate in the analysis and development of future Asian and European projects.