Among a number of significant achievements over the last week, SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), has been awarded an 86 megawatt solar photovoltaic project in South Africa.
The Droogfontein 2 solar PV facility will be situated 20 kilometres south of Kimberly in the Northern Cape Province and will produce enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 45,000 South African homes.
SunEdison says the project represents 20% of total solar capacity allocated to preferred bidders in the fourth round of South Africa’s Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Program.
” South Africa is one of the most attractive solar markets in the world, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Energy in future rounds of the Renewable Energy IPP procurement program, which is expected to deliver an incremental 6.3 gigawatts of projects,” said Enrique Collado, SunEdison General Manager for Africa.
Mr. Collado also stated SunEdison is committed to local communities where it operates in the nation.
“Through enterprise development, skills creation, and local procurement, we’re making sure that local people directly benefit from our projects,” he said.
Eskom will buy the solar electricity under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). State-owned Eskom generates approximately 95% of the electricity used in South Africa and around 45% of the electricity consumed in the entire African continent.
SunEdison entered the South African market four years ago. To date, the company has developed and installed 130 MW of utility scale and commercial solar power around the nation. The addition of the Droogfontein 2 project makes SunEdison one of the leading solar providers in South Africa.
South Africa has been in the grip of an energy drought for some time, a hangover of the attempted privatisation of Eskom in the late 1990’s that saw requests for financial resources to build new stations being denied. However, from the ashes a solar and wind powered phoenix is rising that will play a crucial role in the nation’s much cleaner and more robust energy future.
In other recent SunEdison news, the company recently announced the interconnection of the 17.8 megawatt Solar Spirit and 17.9 MW DC Bruining solar power plants in Ontario. Combined, the facilities will output enough energy for 4,000 Canadian households. Electricity generated will be provided to Canada’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) through a 20-year feed-in-tariff agreement.
SunEdison says it has now installed more than 250MW utility-scale and commercial solar capacity in Canada.
Also recently, SunEdison acquired LightWing, a comprehensive solar platform solution for utilities and retail energy providers.
The company also announced the rolling out of a power purchase agreement (PPA) product for residential solar across seven US states and a deal with Evolve Solar – one of the USA’s largest residential solar resellers – to exclusively sell SunEdison solar products.
Lastly, but certainly not least, SunEdison announced last night it had acquired 757 MW of operating wind, solar and hydropower projects, and also secured 1,918 MW of Third Party Right of First Offer (ROFO) Projects.
The company also reported its first quarter results last night.
