SunPower has announced it will continue a successful solar partnership with Apple Corp. with the construction of two solar projects totaling 40 megawatts (MW) in the remote Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefectures of Sichuan Province in China.
One of the projects, a 20MW concentrated photovoltaic solar plant in Hongyuan County, is already exporting 2MW of electricity to the grid, and Apple says the project will ultimately generate enough energy to power all of its Chinese corporate sites and retail stores.
The joint venture marks the first international collaboration between SunPower and the digital giant. Back in the U.S., SunPower has teamed with Apple on constructing six solar facilities totaling 90MW in three states as part of the company’s commitment to run 100 per cent of its U.S. operations and data centers on renewable energy.
“This is a tremendous groundbreaking collaboration, bringing together a diverse group of experienced partners from different parts of the globe to build renewable solar energy ventures that contribute to the local economy and the environment. Our unique, existing partnerships in China allowed for these projects to come to fruition quickly,” said Tom Werner, president and CEO of SunPower.
Both projects are expected to be completed by the end of the year and will be the first solar plants built in the remote Aba region of Sichuan, an area more renowned for its farming than its industry.
The projects are expected to provide up to 80 million kilowatt-hours per year of clean electricity.
SunPower says the plants will use low concentration photovoltaic (LCPV) tracking technology, involving rows of parabolic mirrors focusing sunlight onto high-efficiency Maxeon solar cells, which reduces the amount of land required compared to conventional large-scale solar facilities utilising traditional solar panels. Maxeon cells have no grid lines on the front of the cell and use a solid copper backing.
“These projects will provide clean, renewable energy, help address climate change, and continue to provide agricultural benefits to the local farmers, while protecting the area’s precious land. We continue to value our partnership with Apple and commend them for their global environmental commitment,” said Mr. Werner.
According to Apple, 87% of its global operations are powered by renewable energy. This is more than quintuple the use of renewables at Apple corporate, retail, and data facilities worldwide since 2010.
