SunEdison announced that, along with Firelight Infrastructure Partners, it has attained financial close for a 10MW solar project being built in Ontario. Completed through a construction and term debt credit facility, the project is owned by SunEdison and Firelight as equity partners. Deutsche Bank worked as the private placement agent for the transaction, which was supported by a consortium of lenders.
Valos Solar Ventures continue to tie up the loose ends for its 20MW SKIC Solar 1 project; most recently with the signing of a 20-year PPA with Pacific Gas & Electric. The solar project, located near Bakersfield, California, is expected to receive approval from the California Public Utility Commission in October, with construction starting no later than August 2013.
Q-Cells North America has recently completed a total of 108MW PV projects in North America. It built a 69MW PV project in Ontario, Canada and several PV projects in California, US, which have a total capacity of 39MW.
China Technology Development Group Corporation (CTDC), a Hong Kong-based provider of solar energy products, has signed a number of cooperation framework agreements with several PV companies. The agreements relate to the development of 2.1GW worth of PV projects in the next three years.
Situated in California’s Mojave Desert, and located on 164 acres between Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree, SolarWorld’s 25MW (DC) Desert Star Solar project is now under construction. The company’s EPC division, which owns the land and projects near Twentynine Palms, will oversee all phases of the project, including design, engineering, procurement, permitting and construction.
Martifer Solar, part of Portugal-based Martifer SGPS SA, has announced that it has completed the construction of a 1.5MW PV plant for in Pufesti, Vrancea County, Romania for Danish company Eurowind Energy. The plant represents the company’s first PV plant in the country.
Jumping on the bandwagon, Inpex Corporation has made its first move into the solar power generation business and has announced plans to build a large-scale 2MW PV plant in Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The proposed plant, called Inpex Mega Solar Joetsu, represents Inpex’s first large-scale solar power generation project.
Two and a half months after starting construction, Gehrlicher Solar advised that it has completed its Perleberg solar park, located between Hamburg and Berlin. The system holds a 35MWp nominal capacity and is anticipated to generate nearly 33 million kWh of power per year. The company noted that because of the solar park’s high capacity, it also built a separate expandable 110kV transformer station, which connected the solar installation to the grid on August 23.
Chinese PV firm Suntech Power Holdings faces more trouble in Italy after an Italian court reportedly filed a lawsuit against the company’s Global Solar Fund (GSF). The lawsuit alleges that the investment fund illegally built solar farms in the country in order to exploit Italy’s subsidies, Reuters has revealed.
Constellation Solar announced that its 16.1MW (DC) PV project in Emmitsburg, Maryland has been completed and connected to the grid. The project, part of Maryland’s Generating Clean Horizons initiative, is financed, owned and operated by Constellation. The US$50 million solar site will sell its electricity to the Department of General Services and the University System of Maryland under a 20-year PPA with Constellation.
