News Article
Loan secured to construct 20 MW III-V solar project in China
The financing deal is the first ever obtained from the China Development Bank for a multi-megawatt CPV project in the Xinjiang province
Focusic New Energy Holding Co., Ltd., a Chinese developer of renewable-energy power plants, has secured a loan for 200 million Yuan (approximately US$32.7 million) from the China Development Bank (CDB).
The money will be used to finance a 20 megawatt (MW) CPV project in Hami, a city on the edge of the Gobi desert in China’s Xinjiang province using Soitec's proprietary III-V Concentrix solar modules.
The project, of which the initial 3 MW pilot plant was announced by Focusic and Soitec in 2011, is the first utility scale project to be granted a CDB loan for Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) technology. This also marks the first CPV large power plant in China to secure financing.
Focusic is building the 20 MW power plant in partnership with Soitec, which had supplied the full dual-axis CPV systems for the first 3 MWs and will supply its new generation of III-V high-efficiency modules for the entire project.
The power plant is expected to begin contributing approximately 3 MW to the local power grid by the end of this year and then ramping up its output as the plant is built out with another phase completed in 2014.
“We are very excited to receive this very important bank loan to install our first 20 MWp CPV power plant,” says Ma Wenxing, managing director at Focusic. “The demo plant with Soitec technology has proven to be perfectly suited for the northwestern part of our country, we now look forward to getting connected to the power grid and beginning to generate electricity.”
“CPV can play a strong part in China’s renewable-energy plans,” says Gaetan Borgers, executive vice president of Soitec’s Solar Energy Division. “This represents a very important milestone in our development strategy and an evidence of the power of our technology. As we continue our work with Focusic, we look forward to developing a pipeline of projects in China.”
With its power-generating efficiency of more than 30 percent and low installation and maintenance costs, CPV technology is the most cost-efficient solution for high-volume power generation in regions with high direct normal irradiance (DNI). China contains an estimated 500,000 square miles of territory with high DNI ratings and has an enormous and growing demand for energy.
With installations in 18 countries around the world, Soitec’s CPV technology is proving its competitiveness in generating solar power, largely due to its higher production yields throughout daylight hours.
What's more, CPV technology’s abilities to operate without cooling water, withstand hot ambient temperatures and have minimal environmental impact make it perfectly suited for use in environmentally sensitive desert areas. Soitec is well positioned to expand quickly in the world’s sunniest regions, which also are the fastest growing market segments for the solar industry.
The money will be used to finance a 20 megawatt (MW) CPV project in Hami, a city on the edge of the Gobi desert in China’s Xinjiang province using Soitec's proprietary III-V Concentrix solar modules.
The project, of which the initial 3 MW pilot plant was announced by Focusic and Soitec in 2011, is the first utility scale project to be granted a CDB loan for Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) technology. This also marks the first CPV large power plant in China to secure financing.
Focusic is building the 20 MW power plant in partnership with Soitec, which had supplied the full dual-axis CPV systems for the first 3 MWs and will supply its new generation of III-V high-efficiency modules for the entire project.
The power plant is expected to begin contributing approximately 3 MW to the local power grid by the end of this year and then ramping up its output as the plant is built out with another phase completed in 2014.
“We are very excited to receive this very important bank loan to install our first 20 MWp CPV power plant,” says Ma Wenxing, managing director at Focusic. “The demo plant with Soitec technology has proven to be perfectly suited for the northwestern part of our country, we now look forward to getting connected to the power grid and beginning to generate electricity.”
“CPV can play a strong part in China’s renewable-energy plans,” says Gaetan Borgers, executive vice president of Soitec’s Solar Energy Division. “This represents a very important milestone in our development strategy and an evidence of the power of our technology. As we continue our work with Focusic, we look forward to developing a pipeline of projects in China.”
With its power-generating efficiency of more than 30 percent and low installation and maintenance costs, CPV technology is the most cost-efficient solution for high-volume power generation in regions with high direct normal irradiance (DNI). China contains an estimated 500,000 square miles of territory with high DNI ratings and has an enormous and growing demand for energy.
With installations in 18 countries around the world, Soitec’s CPV technology is proving its competitiveness in generating solar power, largely due to its higher production yields throughout daylight hours.
What's more, CPV technology’s abilities to operate without cooling water, withstand hot ambient temperatures and have minimal environmental impact make it perfectly suited for use in environmentally sensitive desert areas. Soitec is well positioned to expand quickly in the world’s sunniest regions, which also are the fastest growing market segments for the solar industry.
