SANTIAGO, Chile , PARIS and SAN JOSE, Calif. , Jan. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Total (CAC: TOTF.PA) and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) announced the completion of the 70-megawatt PV Salvador project, one of the world's largest operating merchant solar power plants. Chilean Minister of Energy Máximo Pacheco and executives from Total and SunPower attended the inauguration event today in El Salvador in Chile's Atacama Desert.
"As one of the world's largest operating solar merchant power plants, PV Salvador represents an important milestone for the electricity generation industry, proving that solar can provide wholesale power at competitive prices in completely unsubsidized markets," said Bernard Clement , senior vice president, Total New Energies. "With our affiliate SunPower, we are pleased to assist the Chilean government in its goal to diversify its energy mix and we look forward to further developing our solar activities in the country."
PV Salvador power plant is expected to produce approximately 200 gigawatt-hours of solar electricity per year, enough to supply electricity to approximately 70,000 households* in Chile .
"PV Salvador showcases advanced SunPower technology that will deliver maximized, cost-competitive solar power production over the next 25 years or more," said Jorg Heinemann , SunPower's executive vice president, global power plants, customer operations and EPC. "Together with Total, we are leading the market by delivering reliable, cost-effective clean power to Chile's utility grid, positively impacting local businesses and people."
SunPower designed and constructed PV Salvador. At the 138-hectare site, SunPower installed SunPower Oasis™ C1™ Power Plant technology, featuring proprietary single-axis trackers and over 160,000 SunPower's high-efficiency solar panels. About 300 jobs were created during construction work, many of which were staffed by local residents.
SunPower will now provide on-going operations and maintenance. In the desert environment, cleaning the panels using SunPower's robotic cleaning patented technology may help increase annual power production by as much as 15% while using up to 75% less water than conventional panel cleaning methods.
PV Salvador will initially operate on a merchant basis where the electricity produced is sold on the spot market and is delivered to the Sistema Interconectado Central (SIC) electricity network. The facility connects through the power infrastructure of Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco).
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. government's development finance institution, financed 70% of the approximately US$200 million project cost through long-term non-recourse project debt. The remaining portion was funded by Etrion, Total and Solventus, based on ownership interests of 70%, 20% and 10%, respectively.
About Total
Total is one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world, with activities in more than 130 countries. The Group is also a first rank player in chemicals. Its 100,000 employees put their expertise to work in every part of the industry - exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining and marketing, new energies, trading, and chemicals. Total is working to help satisfy the global demand for energy, both today and tomorrow.
Total holds a majority stake in SunPower, a world leader in solar energy, and is actively engaged in a number of renewable research and development projects in solar and biotechnologies. More information is available on www.total.com.
About SunPower
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) designs, manufactures and delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems available today. Residential, business, government and utility customers rely on the company's quarter century of experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif. , SunPower has offices in North America , Europe , Australia , Africa and Asia . For more information, visit www.sunpower.com.
* According to Total's estimates
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SOURCE SunPower Corp.