The strategic collaboration will provide fully financed utility-scale solar photovoltaic plants to speed up progress to net zero.
Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sun Africa and its sister company, UGT Renewables, to collaborate on utility-scale solar photovoltaic power generation projects that will accelerate the energy transition and provide access to energy in emerging and developing markets worldwide.
The partners are currently completing their first project together: a 370-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant across seven sites in Angola, the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. They also have several utility-scale projects under negotiation, totalling more than 12-gigawatts in capacity, with various governments in Africa and Eurasia.
In the non-exclusive memorandum, both parties agree to collaborate at an early stage of prospective projects. They will jointly engage with local and international stakeholders, and provide optimised best-in-class and well-integrated solar power solutions that will enable developing nations to take significant steps toward broad and environmentally sustainable electrification.
“We are delighted to be working with Sun Africa and UGT Renewables to bring utility-scale emission-free energy projects to a growing number of countries in the world,” says Johan Soderstrom, Executive Vice President, Head of Regions, Europe, Middle East and Africa of Hitachi Energy. “The combination of their business model and our solutions help countries develop their economies, progress toward net zero, and provide their people with access to clean and reliable electricity.”
“Our first collaboration with Hitachi Energy in Angola was a huge success, both for ourselves and the Government of Angola on behalf of whom we developed the project,” says Adam Cortese, CEO of Sun Africa and UGT Renewables. “We have developed a relationship of trust with Hitachi Energy and an efficient and effective way of working that benefits all the stakeholders with whom we work.”
Hitachi Energy is providing complete engineered solutions for optimised power collection packages and high-voltage grid connections, ensuring safe and reliable aggregation and transmission of power from the solar arrays to the power grid. Grid-eXpand™ grid connection solar solutions span the entire electrification of large-scale photovoltaic plants to deliver significant value. They are engineered, assembled and factory-tested before delivery, ready for speedy and easy energisation on-site while reducing site-based construction risks.
The scope also includes an advanced supervisory control and data acquisition system that monitors the grid connection to help increase the flexibility of the energy system that is key in the integration of renewables. Advanced power consulting studies will also ensure grid code compliance and system-wide optimisation.
Hitachi Energy brings its unique strengths to this collaboration. It is a leading provider of grid connections and power quality solutions, specialising in integration of renewables into the power grids and engineering excellence, a global footprint with strong local know-how.
Sun Africa and UGT Renewables will develop the projects, which after construction are transferred to the designated operator for continued operation. Each project will have a competitive levelised cost of energy, will be fully financed, and have an operations and maintenance plan in place to ensure the efficient and effective transfer of knowledge and technology.