ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe to the PowerPulse Newsletter

Conferences and Forums

Darnell's Energy Summit

Darnell's Power Forum

Green Building Power Forum

Smart Grid Electronics Forum

Industry News

December 3, 2012

SunPower Signs Joint Venture Agreement in China

SunPower Corp. announced that it signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture with partners Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor (TZS), Inner Mongolia Power Group (IMP) and Hohhot Jinqiao City Development Company (HJCD) for the manufacturing and deployment of the company's proprietary SunPower® C7 Tracker (C7) concentrator technology in the Chinese market.

Recommended: Siemens Installing Regenerative Energy Storage Unit on Light Rail Line

The joint venture, based in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, PRC, will manufacture and deploy SunPower's high efficiency, C7 concentrator solar systems in Inner Mongolia and other regions in China. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, SunPower will invest $15 million, of the total capitalization of the joint venture of $60 million, for a 25 percent ownership stake. The joint venture is subject to the approval of the PRC government with initial C7 deployment expected to begin by the end of 2013.

ADVERTISEMENT

"This agreement capitalizes on the capability of SunPower's next generation C7 technology to deliver industry leading cost effective energy," said Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO. "Working together with our team of strong local partners who bring different strengths to this project, we believe that we can deploy significant volumes of C7 power plants to help serve China's growing need for clean power. We also expect that this venture will facilitate the development of a low cost, high volume C7 supply chain and accelerate our C7 cost reduction roadmap."

Related: Power-One Announces New Open-Frame Products for Industrial and Medical Applications

"This joint venture collaboration embeds essential winning factors including our excellent natural resources, the best photovoltaic technologies and diligent, committed partners," said Huadong You, chairman of TZ Group. "Our four-party, three country landmark partnership sets a role model for the industry and also embraces challenges for a sustainable future."

"This joint venture is a new milestone in the development of the PV industry in Hohhot City and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region," said Yi Qin, mayor of Hohhot City. "We look forward to leveraging the strengths of Hohhot City to support the success of this venture and have full confidence in this winning collaboration among the four partners."

Opinion: Maximising Synergies between Power Electronics and ICT for improving Energy Efficiency

"We are fully committed to the success of this joint venture and we will meet the expectations of all levels of government, as well as those of our partners," said Fusheng Zhang, CEO of IMP. "IMP has an excellent grid infrastructure, leading experience in grid integration of renewable energy and strong resources."

The SunPower C7 Tracker combines single-axis tracking technology with rows of parabolic mirrors, reflecting light onto 22.8 percent efficiency SunPower Maxeon® cells, the world's most efficient commercially available solar cells. Using mirrors to reduce the number of solar cells required to generate electricity lowers the levelized cost of energy by up to 20 percent compared to competing technologies. For example, a 400-MW C7 power plant requires less than 70 MW of SunPower solar cells.

Share this story

Send via E-mail
Post to Twitter

On the Web:

SunPower Corp.

ADVERTISEMENT

White Papers

March 11, 2013

Power Modules for Charger Applications

Sponsored by Vincotech

February 27, 2013

The Adaptive Cell Converter Topology Enables Constant Efficiency Over Universal Input AC Line in Front-End, High-Density Power Factor Correction Applications

Sponsored by Vicor Corp.

February 27, 2013

From 48 V direct to Intel VR12.0: Saving "Big Data" $500,000 per datacenter, per year

Sponsored by Vicor Corp.

More White Papers

Most Popular

Design Features

October 22, 2012

Energy Efficiency with Class D Amplifier Modules

Class-D switching amplifiers are helping audio designers create personal multimedia devices and home audio/visual systems that demonstrate how compact and stylish equipment can also deliver high sound quality and high audio output power. The key to this breakthrough, providing freedom from the large and bulky boxes housing traditional audio products, lies in the class-D amplifier’s high energy efficiency, which is typically around 90%. This allows designers to reduce or eliminate heatsinks as well as using smaller-sized PCBs and smaller components such as transformers, connectors and power supplies.

Read this paper

Design Features

October 8, 2012

The Role of Hall Effect Sensors in Power Distribution Infrastructure

Power distribution units (PDUs) form an essential part of modern computing and data communications hardware. They provide multiple outputs for transferring electrical power with maximum efficiency, controlling the power capacity and safeguarding against the possible causes of supply interruption. With an ever increasing need from tech savvy consumers for higher data throughput and greater quantities of data storage capacity, as well as tough international legislation now governing CO&sub2; emissions, the demands being placed on these units are proving challenging for engineering teams to satisfy.

Read this paper

Product Focus

August 13, 2012

The Year in AC-DC Power Supply Technology

The past year witnessed significant new product releases, technological developments, and industry news related to the field of AC-DC Power Supply technology.

Read this paper

Read More Technical Features

 

©2013 Darnell Group Inc.