Apple and SunPower to build solar plants in China

The technological giant Apple makes another move towards solar energy. The company is thinking of supporting the construction of solar projects in China with SunPower Corp. Almost all of Apple’s data centers are powered by renewable energy. Recently Apple also joined hands with First Solar investing $848 million for the construction of solar farm in California. This will be Apple’s first initiative in China.

SunPower a leading solar installation company in USA, is planning to build two 20 MW of solar projects each in China, expected to go live by the end of this year. The company is present across all the three segments – residential, commercial and utility and is also fast expanding into other developing economies. It already has more than 4 GW of project pipeline in China and a stable distributed generation market in the EMEA and APAC region.

China is a growing economy and is poised to be the leader in the solar segment in the next few years. The country has passed various regulations to reduce its carbon footprint and reduce its dependence on dirty coal. The National Energy Administration has set new increased solar installation target of 17.8 GW for 2015.

Apple and other technological companies like Google have always ventured into the renewable energy space. These companies are amongst the few very important corporate investors who have played a significant role in U.S. solar project finance. Last year, Google entered into an equity financing with SunEdison for $145 million, to fund an 82MW large scale utility PV project in California. Such tie-ups fulfill the green obligation for the big corporate firms and help in reducing the carbon footprint around the globe.

“These projects will provide clean, renewable energy, help address climate change, and continue to provide agricultural benefits to the local farmers,” Tom Werner, SunPower’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.

Source: Bloomberg