Solar Frontier announced today that its subsidiary, Solar Frontier Europe, has entered into a definitive agreement with New Energy for the World (NEW) to develop and sell up to 100MW of CIS solar power plants in the UK.
Atsuhiko Hirano, CEO of Solar Frontier, said, "Solar Frontier is going global as part of our long-term growth strategy and the UK is a key market for us. We already have a strong standing in the residential, commercial and utility segments in Europe, and are now proud to introduce new and broader market solutions also in the UK. We look forward, together with our partner New Energy for the World, to develop, build, and commission turnkey CIS solar power solutions in the UK with the same level of commitment and service that differentiates Solar Frontier in Japan, a market recognized for demanding the highest quality in solar solutions."
Construction of the first project of the 100MW pipeline is slated to begin in the third quarter of 2015. Land and grid connection have already been secured, and first talks are now underway with investors regarding the sale of the first designated solar power plants. Projects will be closely based on the successful implementation approach of a previous 7.15MW project by Solar Frontier and NEW in Banwell.
Wolfgang Lange, Managing Director of Solar Frontier Europe, said, "Solar Frontier and New Energy for the World have worked closely together on similar projects. The Banwell project, which commenced operations in 2015, serves as a frontrunner for future projects – it demonstrates the performance advantages of CIS especially in UK weather conditions, the benefit of optimizing system components to leverage the advantages of CIS, and the importance of an experienced development team."
Jochen Kleimaier, Shareholder and General Manager of NEW, added, "Our past projects with Solar Frontier attest to the quality and performance of CIS solar power plants in the UK, and our future projects with Solar Frontier demonstrate our confidence of our solutions. We look forward to working with Solar Frontier again as we strive to meet the demand for high quality, high-performance, low-risk solar energy in the UK to meet the demand of institutional investors."
For the 7.15MW CIS solar power plant in Banwell, Solar Frontier provided its CIS modules and optimized system components, Habdank was partner as general contractor for substructure and mounting and NEW provided EPC services.