Some renewable energy companies are beginning to pick up steam with investors climbing on board while others are being swallowed by larger companies seeking to acquire the necessary technology to catapult themselves into the renewable energy arena.
Solar Frontier, a wholly owned subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., has signed a three year contract with Switzerland-based PV solutions firm HopSol. The Swiss firm has African operations in Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa which will give Solar Frontier a foothold into the continent. HopSol believes that Solar Frontier’s CIS-based solar panels will be ideal for southern Africa as the technology provides lower temperatures ideal for desert climates and a strong frame reinforcement that can withstand sand and dust accumulation.
“Africa has ideal conditions for solar energy so long as solar energy systems can withstand the extremes of the climate,” said Robert Hopperdietzel, Chairman of HopSol AG. “Solar Frontier modules not only deliver high performance and cost efficiency in these challenging conditions but have an additional benefit in being free of cadmium and lead. The combination of our know-how and Solar Frontier’s market-leading technology is the foundation for success in Africa.”
“The countries of Africa’s sun belt are especially interesting to us,” said Wolfgang Lange, Managing Director, Solar Frontier Europe. “The reason is simply that the durability and reliability of Solar Frontier modules give us an advantage for leadership there, where the market has huge growth potential. Working with HopSol benefits Solar Frontier in terms of knowing both the demands of Africa’s extreme climates and its markets. Together we will be able to install our ecological and economical CIS modules for a progressive contribution to this continent’s energy supply.”
On the other side of the world comes US manufacturing powerhouse GE investing in eSolar. The industrial giant will license technology and take a minority stake in eSolar with Turkish investor and power plant developer MetCap Energy Investments climbing onboard as well.
“When we look at the long-term future of power generation, we see the importance of integrating natural gas and renewable energy sources in new and innovative ways to provide energy that is cleaner, more cost effective and more reliable,” Paul Browning, head of thermal products for GE Energy, says in a statement.
eSolar technology will be integrated into GE’s Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) offering, which includes “a gas turbine, steam turbine, generators and a heat recovery steam generator, with a field of mirrors that focus sunlight on a tower to produce high temperature steam”. The solar-produced steam will be used to boost the plant’s energy output without using more gas.
eSolar has attracted more than $170m from Google.org, Oak Investment Partners, Idealab and The Quercus Trust, as well as from partners NRG Energy and ACME Group, with which eSolar previously announced project development deals in the US and India, respectively. The company had also announced development deals in China with Penglai Electric, sub-Saharan Africa with Clean Energy Solutions, and licensed its mirror-field technology to German global power plant developer Ferrostaal AG.
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