SunPower announced on July 27ththat it has acquired 1.5 gigawatts of U.S. solar power plant development assets from Australia-based Infigen Energy. With the acquisition, SunPower has assumed ownership of projects in varying stages of development across 11 states.
Included in the development portfolio are three projects totaling 55 megawatts (AC) with power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison. All three are located in Kern County, Calif. SunPower expects to start construction on these projects later this year with commercial operation anticipated in 2016.
"The magnitude of this acquisition speaks to SunPower's financial strength as well as our expertise and leadership in global power plant development," said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO and president. "It provides an expanded and geographically diverse portfolio of solar projects in the U.S. that may all be generating cost-effective, emission-free power by the end of this decade."
"SunPower brings significant experience and proven technology to ultimately transform these development assets into high-performing solar power plant projects, designed to reliably deliver value over the long term," said David Smith, CEO of Infigen Energy US. "Infigen is pleased to have completed this transaction with SunPower."
SunPower expects to offer some of the acquired projects for sale to 8point3 Energy Partners LP, the YieldCo joint venture formed by SunPower and First Solar.
"We expect this acquisition to deliver additional value to our shareholders through long-term power purchase agreements with leading energy buyers, while providing further growth opportunities for SunPower," continued Werner.