NextEnergy acquires two PV projects totalling 53.8MWp
19 January: NextEnergy Capital is announcing two solar PV acquisitions as part of its third institutional solar fund, NextPower III ESG.
The acquisitions mark its second in Portugal and first acquisition in Chile, with the first being an 11.6MWp project with a long term PPA and commissioning planned for this month. The second is a portfolio of four projects in Chile with a total capacity of 42.2MWp. This portfolio was acquired from Grenergy Renovables, with commissioning planned for Q1-Q2 2021.
NextPower III ESG’s capacity in operation and under construction currently stands at 430MWp across 15 projects/portfolios. It has six further projects under exclusivity with a total capacity of circa 500MWp and a further pipeline of circa 2GWp.
Filinto Martins, managing director and head of NextPower III ESG, said the acquisitions will further increase its presence in the European market as well as “one of the most attractive markets in Latin America”, with Chile – as well as Iberia, where the fund is at an advanced stage of negotiations to finalise further opportunities – described as “key geographies”.
BayWa r.e. sells Malaysian solar to local power producer
19 January: BayWa r.e. has revealed the sale of two solar installations at Arau and Gebeng in Malaysia to local renewable-focused independent power producer reNIKOLA Sdn Bhd.
The sale of the installations was conducted in two stages and finalised in December 2020. The 5.2MWp Arau development – located on the university campus at Perlis – was BayWa r.e.’s first utility-scale project in Malaysia.
This project was also a significant milestone for BayWa r.e. for other reasons, it said, with it not only winning in Malaysia’s first ever solar auction but also being one of the first to start generating renewable energy in the country when commissioned in March 2018.
The second project, the 39MWp Gebeng solar park, was completed at the end of 2019, having been delivered in only 17 months, according to the company.
BayWa r.e director of projects, APAC, Daniel Gaefke, said that the company is “well-placed to continue to support both Malaysia and the region” as they look to reduce their reliance on traditional forms of generation.
Commissioning of two solar farms set to power Facebook data centre unveiled
19 January: Walton Electric Membership Corportation (EMC) and Silicon Ranch have announced that two solar facilities in Georgia are now operational.
These solar farms are set to help power Facebook’s data centre in Georgia as part of Walton EMC’s agreement to supply the centre with 100% renewable energy. The announcement of the PV projects’ commissioning comes in the same month Silicon Ranch revealed it had awarded an EPC contract to Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives (IEA) for a 100MW project also set to provide the data centre with power.
The 25MW Appling Solar Farm – one of the two now announced to be operational – was also constructed by IEA, with the other – the 20MW Odom Solar Farm – constructed by PCL.
The two farms feature Silicon Ranch’s holistic approach to land management, as part of which the company will restore the land to a functioning shortgrass ecosystem while keeping the property in agricultural production through managed sheep grazing. According to Walton EMC’s CEO Ronnie Lee, this approach will propel the benefits of the site “to an even higher magnitude”.