Hardly a day has gone by recently without SunEdison appearing in renewable energy headlines – and the mover and shaker of the solar world has just finished another major project.
The company announced this week it has completed construction of a 24 MW solar farm located in the California Desert.
Power generated by the Cascade solar power plant will be bought by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) via a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
The Agreement occurred under the California Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM), which has been set up to ensure the state’s ratepayers get energy at a low cost through reverse auction and standard contracts. SunEdison says Cascade is the largest solar project to be brought to fruition under the RAM program.
Wells Fargo & Company provided tax equity financing following completion of the solar power plant. Wells Fargo has been involved with more than 200 SunEdison projects.
In other recent SunEdison news, the company has been awarded “Latin American Solar Deal Of The Year” by ProjectFinance Magazine and the OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) Award for Renewable Resources for its work on the 60MW Boshof solar park in South Africa
Receiving an award from OPIC for our largest project in South Africa is a true honor for our company,” said Pashupathy Gopalan, President, SunEdison, Asia Pacific, GCC and South Africa. “By building the first utility scale solar power plant in Free State Province, we will generate much needed clean electricity in South Africa, provide construction and permanent jobs, and help the local economy.”
It’s not just the solar farms themselves SunEdison is building that are generating interest in the company; but what it’s doing with them.
Last year, SunEdison began to promote the benefits of moving away from its usual business model of developing and selling solar projects and towards a retained PV strategy; an approach that is explained in-depth in an article on SeekingAlpha.
Earlier this month, it was revealed Austin Energy is to sign on the dotted line for a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with Sun Edison; which will supply electricity at under USD 5 cents per kilowatt-hour – touted as possibly the world’s cheapest solar power deal to date.
