Sharp Energy Solutions Europe has announced the expansion of its PV business in Ethiopia, taking advantage of significant JCM subsidies for PV panels.
In addition to supplying panels, Sharp is also active in the global project business, working with partners on the development of solar power plants and offering unique opportunities to investors and owners for joint projects.
As a Japanese company, Sharp is able to access an attractive subsidy scheme from the Japanese government for PV power plants in multiple countries around the world. The subsidy scheme, Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), is a project-based program initiated to facilitate the spread of low-carbon technologies and reduction of GHG emissions in 17 countries. The Japanese government provides the subsidy for a PV installation and, in return, it shares part of the carbon credits generated by the project, whereby one carbon credit represents the right to emit one ton of CO2.
Sharp has already successfully carried out numerous projects under the JCM program in Mexico, Thailand, Mongolia, Indonesia, Philippines, Laos and Palau, with further projects in progress in Vietnam and Chile.
The company’s objective in Ethiopia is to develop partnership-based projects eligible for JCM subsidies from 100kWp to 100MWp and beyond. A particular focus is on independent system owner activity, where planned PV investment should have finance and payback schemes (PPA or self-consumption) already in place, with the preference being for self-consumption in the consumer and industrial or free field PV system segments.
As part of any collaboration, Sharp will guide its partner through the whole JCM process and ensure that the project owner benefits from subsidies to the level of approximately 40% for panels.
Peter Thiele, President of Sharp Energy Solutions Europe, commented: “Our strategic direction envisions massive expansion of the project business in Ethiopia. Cooperating with our partners, Sharp will take care of the JCM process and plan and build the PV project together with our local partner. Our ideal project candidate is a local Ethiopian entity owning land or rooftop space and planning to invest in a PV system with a minimum size of 100kWp up to several MW. By working together, our partners will benefit from the advantages that we, as a module supplier, can contribute to a partnership in Ethiopia: direct access to production capacity and generous JCM subsidies.”