Here are some important cleantech announcements of the day from around the world:
Enel North America intended to build an industrial-scale production facility in the US to make solar photovoltaic modules. The proposed facility is expected to have a minimum production capacity of 3 GW and it is possible to scale the production up to 6 GW per year. The facility is expected to be one of the first in the United States to produce solar cells and will be built by its affiliate 3Sun USA. Enel is evaluating possible sites for the new factory and hopes to start construction in the middle of 2023. It is expected that the first panels will be available on the market by the end of 2024.
African Development Bank approved an equity investment of $20 million in Evolution Fund III. The fund is a pan-African clean and sustainable energy private equity fund that has mobilized about $400 million into renewable energy and resource projects across sub-Saharan Africa over ten years. Inspired Evolution Investment Management is a well-established fund manager with more than 15 years of experience and a track record of deploying more than $310 million in renewable energy projects in African provinces. The bank’s support will contribute to an additional 2,162 MW of installed renewable power generation capacity and 1.8 million tons of CO.2 emission savings
Canadian Solar Office has partnered the commercial operation of its 100 MW Azuma Kofuji solar project in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The Azuma Kofuji project is the largest Canadian Solar project in Japan. The project is powered by Canadian Solar high-efficiency HiKu modules. The energy generated is purchased by Tohoku Electric Power Company at JPY36 (U$0.26)/kWh under Japan’s feed-in-tariff program for more than 18 years. Azuma Kofuji is expected to produce 106,800 MWh of clean and reliable energy to power and avoid more than 50,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually.
First Solar SUPPLY an additional 4.9 GW of its thin-film photovoltaic solar modules to Intersect Power. Combined with a previously announced agreement for 2.4 GWc Signed in July 2022, these transactions bring Intersect Power’s total orders for First Solar modules this year to 7.3 GW. Of the 4.9 GW, the agreement to supply 1 GW signed before First Solar’s Q3 2022 earnings call in October, while the agreement to supply the remaining 3.9 GWc signed after the October earnings call. The orders placed by Intersect Power this year will see a combination of First Solar’s Series 6 In addition and Series 7 modules deployed in solar, storage, and green hydrogen projects coming online in the United States from 2025 to 2029.
FIMER supplied 9 PVS-100 three-phase string inverters through its partners Main Solution and Evolvere for Vegitalia, a company operating in the Italian food sector. The total power of the system is 999.18 kW with 2196 photovoltaic modules installed. The PVS-100/120-TL is FIMER’s cloud-connected three-phase string inverter solution for cost-efficient decentralized photovoltaic systems for ground-mounted and rooftop applications. This high-power platform, with power ratings of up to 120 kW, maximizes the return on investment for decentralized commercial and industrial solar projects.
Global Investment firm Carlyle has launched Telis Energy, a newly created renewable platform to develop renewable energy projects, focusing on solar, in the UK, France, Spain, and Germany. Headquartered in London, Telis will develop and collaborate on high-quality renewable energy projects and aims to play a key role in Europe’s energy transition, with a target project pipeline of more than 10 GW in place by 2030. As of December 2018, Carlyle has deployed approximately $1.2 billion globally in renewable assets, such as Solar and wind, as of September 30, 2022. In 2021, Carlyle launched Copia Power, a large renewable development platform in the US, which will start building more than 1 GW of projects in 2023 and has gathered a pipeline of more than 16 GW under development.
Arjun Joshi a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for business resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. More articles from Arjun Joshi.
