Japan’s Toshiba Corp. and U.S. solar development firm SunEdison have agreed to jointly build solar power plants in the growing Japanese market by sharing core components and technologies.
This will be SunEdison’s first entry into the Japanese electricity sales market. While a handful of foreign companies has moved into this rapidly growing market, none has formed a comprehensive partnership with a major Japanese manufacturer until now.
Toshiba is already in talks to build four or five megasolar plants and anticipates 270 billion yen in orders for construction of power-plant-related facilities by the end of this fiscal year. SunEdison is to sell the power generated at the plants. Toshiba aims to build megasolar facilities with an output in the order of 100 MW.
Toshiba’s strength is production of equipment such as power conditioners and storage batteries. SunEdison is known for its panels and remote monitoring systems that can handle large plants but also offers a full solar generation, from securing land and procuring funds to construction and electricity sales. It had sold roughly 1000 MW as of March 31.
