Hello, sunshine: US to fund $250m for 51 solar power projects in Thailand

The installations will range in size from one megawatt (MW) to 50MW, with a final total capacity of approximately 520MW.

According to a release, the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, today approved $250 million in financing to develop 51 solar power plants in Thailand – a first-of-its-kind project that by leveraging OPIC financing to support a large volume of installations, and by involving local banks in the process, could serve as a template to accelerate the growth of the solar industry in emerging markets.

SunEdison Thailand, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. a U.S. based technology and solar power development company, will use the OPIC financing to construct the new solar photovoltaic power installations, with all generation capacity dedicated to Thailand’s national grid through the country’s power utilities. The installations will range in size from one megawatt (MW) to 50MW, with a final total capacity of approximately 520MW.

Each installation will benefit from a five-year power purchase agreement with automatic renewal from one of three state-owned power companies: the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the Provincial Electricity Authority or the Metropolitan Electricity Authority of Thailand. As such, the project supports the Thai Government’s initiative to diversify the country’s sources of power generation and have 20% of generation capacity come from
renewable power by 2022.

“What makes this project so innovative is that it leverages OPIC financing to catalyze a large volume of solar projects that otherwise would require many multiples of OPIC resources to implement on a project-by-project basis,” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield. “By also involving local banks in long-term renewable power project financing, this project structure could serve as template for solar power development in emerging markets worldwide. Not least, it is likely to be the first in a series of OPIC partnerships with SunEdison.”

SunEdison is one of North America's largest solar energy services providers. SunEdison pioneered the fully integrated solar energy service provider business model, which provides an integrated solution for the development, design, engineering, installation, financing, monitoring, operations and maintenance of solar power systems. As of June 2011, SunEdison had deployed and/or managed 526 solar power systems representing more than 330 MW of solar energy generating capacity.

MEMC is the fourth largest global designer and manufacturer of silicon wafers used in semiconductors, the fifth largest manufacturer of silicon wafers used in solar panels, and one of the largest North American solar power developers.