Spanish manufacturer Soltec will supply its single-axis solar trackers to the 70MW Oakey Solar Farm II in Queensland.
The deal is the company’s first since opening an office in Sydney in November last year, in a bid to continue its international expansion to the Asia-Pacific region, and ensures its presence in all promising markets.
The order was placed by EPC provider Biosar, a subsidiary of Greek construction group AKTOR, for 2,296 units of Soltec’s SF7 seventh generation horizontal single-axis solar tracker, which will be installed at the Queensland farm.
Acting as subcontractor on the 70MW Oakey project developed by Canadian Solar, Biosar currently has two more Australian projects under construction located in South East Queensland: the 98MW Susan River Solar Farm and the 75MW Childers Solar Farm, both of which achieved financial close in January this year, as announced by Australian developer ESCO Pacific and U.K. hedge fund Elliot Advisors.
Sold as a part of a 117 MW utility scale solar portfolio to the UK’s Foresight Solar Fund Limited, the Oakey Solar Farm II reached financial close in January this year, with $55 million in non-recourse project finance from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
According to Canadian Solar, which has overtaken the EPC and O&M duties, the project will be completed in November 2018.
Commenting on the deal, CEO of Soltec Raúl Morales, who discussed with pv magazine the energy yield advantages of trackers in greater detail in a last year’s interview said: “Our standard tracker features reduce material and installation time compared to others. SF7 has fewer piles-per-MW, a lower parts count, fewer installation operations, greater tolerance of construction variables, and less civil work among other advantages. The combined result of higher yield performance and robust design is what customers rely on when choosing us.”
In other markets, Soltec already has a proven track record. In Americas, it is firmly established with around 2 GW of trackers supplied or underway, as just in Latin America in 2017, it has surpassed 500 MW installed capacity in Brazil, and made its first moves into Mexico’s burgeoning PV market.
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