SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), the world's largest renewable energy development company, today announced it has been awarded an additional five solar photovoltaic projects in South Africa, totaling 371 megawatts (MW) DC. This award stems from the extended capacity announcement for the fourth bid round of the Renewable Energy IPP Procurement (REIPPP) Programme organized by South Africa's Department of Energy (DOE), in which SunEdison previously announced that it had been awarded an 86 MW solar project. In total, SunEdison has won 457 MW across six solar power projects in South Africa's fourth round of the REIPPP Programme.
The five solar power plants will be located in the Northern Cape and North West Provinces and are expected to produce enough energy to power the equivalent of more than 200,000 South African homes. Eskom, the South African national utility, will purchase the solar energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
"Over the past 3 years, SunEdison has had a successful track record delivering highly reliable, affordable solar power to South Africa," said Pashupathy Gopalan, SunEdison president, Asia Pacific. "We selected project sites that strengthen the Eskom grid and distribute project benefits across a range of communities. Building on SunEdison's previous commitment to employment and social programmes in our host communities, the five projects awarded will offer local enterprise development, skills development and procurement programmes."
SunEdison entered the South African market in 2011 and has developed, constructed and operates 130 MW of utility scale solar power plants. With the 457 MW awarded in the fourth bid round of the REIPPP Programme, SunEdison becomes one of the leading solar energy providers in sub-Saharan Africa.
After construction, operation and maintenance of the power plant will be performed by SunEdison Services, which provides global 24/7 asset management, monitoring and reporting services.
