SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), has announced the company recently secured non-recourse project financing for a 9.6 megawatt utility scale solar power plant being built in Japan.
The Tarumizu project is one of the first utility scale solar projects constructed by a US company in Japan to be provided non-recourse funding from a leading Japanese bank.
Shinsei Bank will be lending SunEdison 80% of the total project cost.
The electricity generated by the Tarumizu project will power around 3,000 households on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. The island has a population of more than 13 million.
“This project is a significant milestone for SunEdison in the growing Japanese renewable energy industry,” said Netoshi Kuriyama, Representative Director and Country Manager for Japan at SunEdison. “With this project, we have proven that we can develop bankable projects with leading Japanese financial and EPC partners and we look forward to rapid growth in the Japanese market.”
It’s been a busy year for SunEdison so far.
Among its many activities; in January, the company signed agreements with the state government of Karnataka in India to develop five gigawatts of solar energy and with OMC Power to develop 5,000 solar projects throughout rural India.
Also in January, SunEdison’s CEO met with US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The company also announced a significant solar schools supply deal in the USA.
In February, SunEdison completed a 7.7MW solar array for a brake company in India, an array for AT&T and the 81.6 MW Regulus solar facility in Kern County, California. The company also provided details of a 22 megawatt distributed rooftop solar project in Los Angeles.
Late in February, SunEdison unveiled a goal of delivering clean, renewable electricity to 20 million people in underprivileged communities throughout the world by 2020.
Last week, SunEdison announced it would be acquiring sections of Solar Grid Storage, a US-based energy storage company specialising in 150kW to 10MW projects.
SunEdison is now the largest renewable energy developer in the world. Established in St. Peters, Missouri, in 1959; SunEdison employs more than 5,600 people worldwide in 35 locations across North America, Europe, and Asia. The company’s operational headquarters are in Belmont, California.
