Japan’s Solar Frontier has signed an agreement to acquire a 280-megawatt solar power project pipeline in the US from developer and operator Gestamp Solar.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. As part of the deal, the development team leading Gestamp Solar’s US operations will join Solar Frontier’s US subsidiary, Solar Frontier Americas.
Solar Frontier, a 100% subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., sells completed solar power plants to investors in Japan and has supplied nearly 3 gigawatts of CIS modules to clients around the world. The company now plans to expand its business model in the US through the deal. This includes an 82.5 MW solar power plant in California, the largest CIS installation worldwide. Solar Frontier’s development operations in the U.S. will be based in San Francisco, California.
“The US downstream expansion is part of Solar Frontier’s growth strategy to accelerate our business in key global markets through 2015 and beyond,” said Atsuhiko Hirano, CEO of Solar Frontier. “We plan to bring that same quality and performance to our fully integrated business in the U.S. and the Americas.”
Separately, Gestamp Solar said it develop a 24.8-MW solar photovoltaic project in Hirono town in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Construction of the project is expected to be completed by May 2016, with output sold to Tohoku Electric Co. The project is financed by a US$70 million a non-recourse loan facility from Deutsche Bank AG.
Gestamp Solar has developed 600MW of projects in various countries spanning different continents.