eSolar steps up global expansion with South African deal

Concentrated solar power manufacturer eSolar has continued its global expansion drive, inking a new partnership with Johannesburg-based Clean Energy Solutions (CES) that will see it attempt to break into the potentially lucrative market for renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Under the terms of the agreement, renewable energy project developer CES has set up a separate entity called eSolarSA.

The organisation will be headed by Stuart Fredman, CES managing director, and will have exclusive rights to distribute and support eSolar's utility-scale technology across seven countries in southern Africa, including South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

"Sub-Saharan Africa's tremendous solar resource has gone relatively untapped, but now, with eSolar's technology, we can establish Southern Africa as a new hotspot for solar development," said Fredman.

The region is currently attempting to boost its renewable energy capacity and the South African government recently announced it was aiming to generate 10,000Gwh of electricity from renewable sources by 2013.

The move marks another step in eSolar's global expansion plans.

The US-based company signed a development and licensing agreement with the ACME Group in February to create solar power plants in India capable of generating 1,000MW. Construction is expected to start later this year and the project will take 10 years to complete.

It has also partnered with NRG Energy in the US to build small solar facilities – each capable of generating 46MW – as part of a project that is expected to deliver total capacity of 465MW.

In addition, the company recently opened its first Sierra SunTower plant in Southern California, the only facility of its kind operating on a commercial basis in North America. The 5MW site provides enough power for 4,000 homes at peak production times.