SPI Solar to acquire 168 MW of PV projects from TBEA

Vertically integrated PV company Solar Power Inc. has announced this week that its subsidiary, SPI Solar, is to acquire 168 MW of PV projects from Chinese solar system and machinery maker TBEA Sunoasis, which is a subsidiary of TBEA Co., Ltd.

The deal, conducted as a definitive equity interest purchase agreement, includes a range of near-complete solar plants located in the Chinese provinces of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang Region, and Qinghai.

Final purchase completion date is penciled in for March 31, 2015, but both parties expect some of the projects to be connected to the grid before the end of 2014. SPI Solar chairman Xiaofeng Peng remarked that the acquisition bolsters an important strategic partnership for the two companies and China’s wider solar industry, which he says is "rapidly expanding across the country" thanks to "collaborations with key players".

Jianxin Zhang, TBEA Sunoasis’s general manager, added: "We are very pleased to partner with SPI Solar in developing this prominent portfolio of solar projects. SPI has established itself as a premier developer of solar projects in China."

Last month, SPI Solar struck a larger agreement with renewable energy company GD Solar that sees the Californian company enjoy first-refusal on GD Solar's ongoing PV projects in China. In total, the deal could add as much as 1.5 GW of PV capacity to SPI's Chinese portfolio between now and 2017.

This week's acquisition of TBEA's projects follows shortly after SPI also agreed to purchase 65 MW of solar projects in Inner Mongolia that have been developed by Guodian Nailuen, for which SPI paid $101.3 million.