14 January '10
9:15 AM EST
No Comments
Solar

First Solar Acquires Project Development Pipeline from Edison Mission Group

First Solar, the Tempe, Ariz. maker and installer of thin-film photovoltaic panels, has acquired utility-scale solar projects to be developed in California and across the U.S. Southwest from the Edison Mission Group (EMG), a unit of Edison International.

The EMG projects are set to generate as much as 150 megawatts and are not backed by any long-term power purchase agreements.

This latest acquisition beefs up First Solar’s power generation portfolio. Last year the company acquired project developer OptiSolar in an all stock transaction worth $400 million. First Solar’s existing portfolio of utility-scale PV solar projects is largely sited on public land and is mostly under contract with utilities.

In a statement, Lisa Bodensteiner, First Solar vice president of business development for North America, said:

Acquiring the EMG development pipeline extends First Solar’s leadership in the U.S. utility market. It builds on our strategy to cultivate robust and predictable module demand in utility-scale applications.

– More to come

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5 November '09
11:40 AM EST
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Funding
Solar

First Solar: PV Maker and Power Plant Operator

First Solar’s acquisition yesterday of  the land option supporting the development of the 117-megawatt Carrizo Energy Solar Farm in California from Ausra was a long time coming.

The project, located in San Luis Obispo County and adjacent to the 550-megawatt Topaz photovoltaic power project, could act as a catalyst to finish that initiative at the expense of the Carrizo solar farm, which was announced in the summer of 2008 by OptiSolar. Since then, Topaz has been slowed by farm and environmental land concerns. Read More »

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16 October '09
11:54 AM EDT
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Cleantech

On Washington’s Green Energy Money

We followed up with Scott Stewart, who recently joined Washington, D.C. law firm Patton Boggs from the Justice Department where he was a litigator with the department’s environmental team.

Stewart best summarized Washington’s growing importance as a funding source for cleantech companies. He said:

The ability to access the federal government’s [funding] programs I think, in this economy, is going to be a crucial component of failure or success for cleantech companies.

How important is Washington  these days for the cleantech sector? Take California solar developer OptiSolar, which in March, at the height of the credit crisis, shutdown  and laid off all of its workers after it failed to get the $300 million government loan guarantee it was counting on to finance construction of a large manufacturing plant.

To get to that government money law firms have been staffing up their respective D.C. offices with environmental/greentech lawyers. For more on that see, here or here.

Does Patton Boggs plan to hire more green lawyers?

Stewart says “yes,”but  declined to provide more specifics.

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5 October '09
6:45 AM EDT
No Comments
Funding
Solar

Details emerge on Enbridge Purchase of Ontario Solar Farm

Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline operator, is set to pay First Solar some C$100 million ($93.14 million) for a 20 megawatt, Ontario-based PV solar farm, an industry source tells us.

In the press release announcing the sale, Calgary-based Enbridge says it plans to invest about C$100 million in solar energy for 2009, which only has three months left. The source tells GER that the “amount quoted in the release is a good guidance on how much the company will pay for the project.”

The solar farm, located in Sarnia, Ont., is 65 percent complete and will sell its output as part of a 20 year power purchase agreement with the Ontario Power Authority once it goes live at the end of the year. Read More »

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7 April '09
4:30 PM EDT
No Comments
Solar

First Solar completes acquisition of OptiSolar’s project portfolio

First Solar has completed its acquisition of OptiSolar’s  project pipeline. First Solar announced the all-stock $400 million transaction last month. 

First Solar will takeover  the construction of OptiSolar’s utility scale solar power projects — including the 500 megawatts Topaz solar farm in Central California.

As part of this transaction OptiSolar’s development team has joined First Solar development group. Shortly after selling its project portfolio, OptiSolar shutdown its two solar panel manufacturing plants. For more on that, see here.

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