Saudi Arabia's Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) has agreed to sell the 100MW Clare solar plant in Australia to a consortium of Lighthouse Infrastructure and DIF.
The solar plant has been developed by FRV and it will continue to provide operations and maintenance services for the solar plant.
The company claims that the solar plant has been one of the first large scale projects in the country to have received funding without government subsidy through a power purchase agreement (PPA).
Presently, the solar plant which is located 35km southwest of Ayr in northern Queensland, is under construction and it could be completed in the later part of this year.
FRV claims that the construction of the project has created more than 200 local jobs and once operational, it will generate enough electricity to power about 42,000 homes in Queensland. The solar plant will also offset about 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
FRV CEO Rafael Benjumea said: “the project is FRV’s third project in Australia following the Royalla and Moree solar farms which are now in operation. However, it is our first project underpinned by a commercial PPA with Origin which reflects the increasing competitiveness of solar energy in Australia relative to other technologies.”
“Through the projects that FRV has in the country and the trust that funds and companies such as DIF and Lighthouse Infrastructure are placing in us, we are consolidating a leading position in the large-scale solar energy market not only in Australia, but also in the key solar markets worldwide.”
Last year, the FRV signed a PPA with Origin Energy to sell 100% of the electricity and large scale renewable energy certificates produced by the pant.
Recently, FRV has started the construction of two solar plants Mafraq I and Mafraq II in Jordan. The two plants will cumulatively produce 133.4MW of clean energy and are expected to be operational by 2018, while producing enough electricity for 80,000 Jordanian households.
Image: FRV to sell 100MW solar plant in Australia. Photo: Courtesy of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures.