Infigen sells its 1.5GW of US solar sites to Sunpower

Australian renewable energy project developer Infigen Energy has sold its 1.5 gigawatts of solar power development assets located in the United States to solar PV company SunPower.

SunPower will assume ownership of projects in a variety of stages of development across 11 US states. It includes three projects totaling 55 MW with power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison, located in Kern County, California, which are expected to commence construction later this year with commercial operation expected in 2016.

Infigen has stated that the net proceeds (after tax and transaction costs) will be approximately US$29.5 million. From an accounting perspective, Infigen will record a post tax profit on disposal of approximately US$15 million in its FY15 financial statements. The sale terms relating to the US solar development pipeline also include an earn-out structure and other conditional payments, pursuant to which Infigen may receive up to an additional US$30 million.

“The magnitude of this acquisition speaks to SunPower’s financial strength as well as our expertise and leadership in global power plant development,” said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO and president. “It provides an expanded and geographically diverse portfolio of solar projects in the U.S. that may all be generating cost-effective, emission-free power by the end of this decade.”