Canadian Solar has sold the remaining 30 percent ownership of the Big Fish SPV (Big Fish) and Iron SPV (Iron) solar projects to Falck Renewables.
Both projects are located in Sicily, Italy, with a total planned capacity of more than 290 MWp. The Canadian Solar plans to recognize sales revenues in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Canadian Solar partnered with Falck Renewables back in 2019 to jointly build Big Fish and Iron ventures, selling 70 percent of the projects to Falck Renewables. Since then, the projects have successfully acquired grid connections and preliminary land rights and have also applied for permits and authorizations.
“We are pleased to have partnered with Falck Renewables in this initiative which allowed us to broaden our portfolio in Italy and has brought development progress to our projects. Going forward, our strategy in Italy will focus on growing and diversifying our pipeline, currently in excess of 1.3 GWp across various regions in the country, with around 140 MWp expected to reach notice-to-proceed (NTP) in 2021. We will also focus on securing long term energy sale agreements and maximize the value we generate from our projects.
“Italy is one of the countries in Europe where solar energy has reached grid parity at the wholesale level, and therefore we expect the growth of energy sale agreements to accelerate in the following years. This is supportive of the ambitious goals set by the government to substantially increase its solar PV installed capacity over the next decade.
“As the energy market shows modest but positive signs of improvement from the COVID impact, we see new attractive opportunities in the private PPA market. We are excited about the opportunities in Italy, which represents one of Canadian Solar’s strongest core markets in the EMEA region, and expect to gain market share and solidify our position as one of the leading players in the Italian solar PV market.”
Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar.
