SunEdison Confirms 58-Megawatt Place in South Africa's Solar Program

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Among the mounting number of companies advancing through financial closure in South Africa's ambitious renewable energy project program is SunEdison (Belmont, California), an MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE:WFR) (St. Peters, Montana) subsidiary, which is involved in two solar power projects in the country's northern Limpopo province with a total capacity of 58 megawatts (MW).

SunEdison is in partnership with China's Chint Solar (Wenzhou, China) and South Africa's Public Investment Corporation (Johannesburg) and local Kurisani Youth Development Trust. The partnership has announced that it has closed $314 million in long-term debt and equity financing for the solar projects. Standard Bank (Johannesburg) and Futuregrowth Asset Management, an Old Mutual (Pinelands, South Africa) subsidiary, are the two senior debt providers supporting both projects.

The two projects, Witkop Solar Park (30 MW) and Soutpan Solar Park (28 MW) will be the first utility-scale solar projects to be installed in Limpopo. Under the terms of the financing agreement, power generated from the two facilities will be purchased by South Africa's power utility Eskom (Johannesburg) under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Soutpan is expected to interconnect with the grid in January 2014 and Witkop in April 2014. Construction on both projects is expected to start in January 2013.

Chint Solar is a member of the Chint Group, manufacturers of low-voltage electrical products, as well as solutions for transmission and distribution, instruments and meters, industry automation, and solar energy. Dr. Chuan Lu, the vice president of Chint Solar said: "South Africa has higher solar irradiance than other countries that have invested heavily in solar power, such as Germany. More solar energy projects will be announced, furthering energy security in the region."

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