Meridian Chief Executive Tim Lusk says the potential of solar power has long been recognised and Meridian’s purchase of San Francisco-based Cleantech America represents a serious step towards exploring its possible role as a renewable option in New Zealand.
“New Zealand is blessed with a wonderful suite of renewable energy options. Hydro has formed the backbone of our electricity supply for the best part of a century, and we are now seeing wind taking an ever-increasing role.
“It is a natural progression from there to start looking seriously at how this country can harness its solar power resources, and our purchase of Cleantech America is a first step towards this.”
Meridian is already exploring solar opportunities in the Pacific Islands, where power systems are dominated by expensive diesel generation, against which solar already represents an economically attractive option.
“The experience we gain from this involvement in the US will assist enormously with the options we are exploring in the Pacific and Australia, and ultimately of course we will be bringing the technology to the New Zealand market.”
Mr Lusk says the acquisition will not only add solar to Meridian’s renewable portfolio, but has the added benefit of providing Meridian a toehold from which it can leverage its renewable energy credentials and seek opportunities to invest in renewable energy projects in the United States.
The $US 5.4 million purchase will see Meridian take ownership of a five-megawatt photovoltaic solar facility in Mendota, California which is ready to move into construction and will be commissioned in December 2009.
Known as CalRENEW-1, the facility is the first utility-scale project to be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission under the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) programme.
The emission-free electricity will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electricity Company (PG&E) under a long-term power purchase agreement.
The resulting company will continue to be known as Cleantech America Inc, and will continue to be based in the San Francisco Bay area.
“Cleantech America already has a strong team on the ground; it has extensive market knowledge and is ideally positioned to benefit from Meridian’s input. We will be providing additional resources for the company’s growth in renewables.
“We are very excited to be entering the US market is a way which not only confers considerable benefits on Meridian as a business, but which offers New Zealand as a whole a major step forward in securing a renewable-based energy future,” Mr Lusk said.
For media enquiries contact:
Claire Shaw
External Relations Manager
Meridian Energy
021 370 677
claire.shaw@meridianenergy.co.nz