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SunPower to expand Uterne solar power plant in Australia

San Jose, USA/Melbourne, Australia - Epuron and SunPower have partnered to quadruple the size of the Uterne solar power plant. The project is expected to be completed in 2015.

Financing from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will fund the expansion, increasing the size of Uterne from 1 megawatt to 4.1 megawatts.

"Uterne has proven to be a valuable part of our solar energy portfolio which will increase in size to over 5 megawatts of operational capacity," said Epuron Executive Director Andrew Durran. "Adding capacity with industry-leading SunPower technology ensures that the plant will continue to deliver predictable, emissions-free electricity over the long term."

"Epuron's decision to expand Uterne in the Northern Territory proves that solar is a reliable and cost-competitive substitute for conventional energy sources such as diesel and gas," said Howard Wenger, SunPower president, regions. "By providing long-term operations and management services, SunPower will help ensure Uterne continues to meet or exceed production expectations over the project's lifetime, leveraging our global experience deploying and operating more than 1,000 megawatts of utility-scale solar power systems."

CEFC is providing a $13 million loan to Epuron for Uterne's expansion, which uses a financing structure that is rare for deals of this size. It is expected to drive down transaction costs and help make projects like this more attractive to commercial financing institutions.

"This project is a good example of bringing together an Australian company with leading global expertise to make the most of our abundant solar resources," said Oliver Yates, CEFC CEO. "The CEFC has identified huge, untapped potential for utility-scale solar power in this country and the CEFC financing for Uterne demonstrates the potential for these projects."



Source: IWR Online, 05 Aug 2014

 


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