China-based Solar Power Inc. (SPI) has signed a partnership agreement with Aqua Clean Energy (ACE) for the co-development of floating photovoltaic projects in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico.
Under the terms of the agreement, ACE and SPI will establish a joint holding company, Aqua Clean Energy Fund LLC, to co-develop a pipeline of floating PV projects with an estimated combined size of over 50 MW. The PV projects will employ a floating solar platform that will enable standard PV panels to be installed on large bodies of water such as reservoirs, quarry lakes, irrigation canals or remediation and tailing ponds.
‘Large-scale floating PV systems have increasingly shown their effectiveness in various settings, and this platform gives SPI a strong competitive advantage in this growing market segment,’ says Xiaofeng Peng, chairman of SPI. ‘This technology not only generates clean solar power energy but also serves to conserve water in critically dry regions like the southwestern U.S. – and California in particular, which is now experiencing its fourth consecutive year of drought.’
