Thin film manufacturer First Solar has established an operating subsidiary in Cape Town, South Africa. The move follows a recent swathe of large utility-scale PV announcements in South Africa, as part of the country’s first round of renewable energy project bidding.
UK renewable energy company Blue Energy will finance and develop a US$400 million large-scale 155MW PV plant in Ghana which, when complete, is said to represent Africa’s largest PV project.
South African developer BioTherm Energy has announced it has closed on the financing of one wind and two solar PV renewable energy projects located throughout the country.
German development bank KfW has signed off a €100 million loan to Morocco’s solar energy agency MASEN to build a CSP plant in the south-central area of the country.
Megalim Solar Power, a company established by BrightSource Energy and Alstom, has won the bid to build a 121MW solar thermal power plant in Israel. The construction contract was awarded by Israel’s inter-ministerial Tender Committee.
German renewable energy specialist juwi has constructed its first project in Egypt — an off-grid hybrid system which consists of a 50kW PV system, four small wind turbines and a battery storage unit.
A consortium of three companies — US PV developer SolarReserve, financial services company Kensani Group and South African renewables developer Intikon — has closed a financial deal worth R5.15 billion (US$586 million) to fund the development of two 75MW PV plants in South Africa.
French CPV manufacturer Soitec has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with South Africa’s public utility Eskom for its planned 44MWp Touwsrivier power plant.
