PV developer Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) has announced that the company, along with its subsidiary — SPI China Limited — has completed its acquisition of 4.3MW of PV projects in Italy from CECEP Solar Energy Hong Kong Co. (CECEP HK).
CECEP HK is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP) — a state-owned energy group in China.
Xiaofeng Peng, chairman of SPI, said: “This acquisition expands SPI's global PV operating asset portfolio, and marks the beginning of a close working alliance with CECEP, one of China's top state-owned energy conglomerates. Alongside our recently announced agreement with RE Projects Development to co-develop PV projects in the UK, this deal demonstrates SPI's growing presence in key European markets.”
This deal marks the latest in a large list of Italian PV projects hitting the market, as a change to the country’s feed-in tariff at the start of 2015 has caused many banks to sell off solar plants at low prices in order to remove themselves from stagnant assets.
Last month, European utility group E. ON sold 49MW of its Italian PV portfolio to the private infrastructure fund, F2i.