By BAODING, China — Yingli’s wholly owned subsidiary, Yingli Green Energy Europe GmbH (“Yingli Europe”) and Namene Energy International Limited (“Namene”), a leading renewable energy solutions developer focused on West Africa, have formed a new joint venture, Yingli Namene West Africa Limited (“JV” or “Yingli Namene West Africa”).
The JV aims to develop a total of 100 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar projects and up to 50 MW of commercial rooftop projects in Ghana and neighboring countries over the coming years and Yingli Europe will serve as the JV’s preferred solar panel supplier.
According to agreements between Yingli Europe and Namene, each party holds 50% of the JV’s equity. All application procedures during the project development will be funded by the JV’s shareholders.
Upon the completion of all the application procedures, the JV will explore the financing solutions from banks and other financial institutions to support project construction. Yingli Namene West Africa Limited will be headquartered in Accra, Ghana, and its first utility-scale projects are already under development. Construction is expected to start in 2017.
“Today’s announcement marks Yingli’s first investment in West African renewable energy projects as well as the continued expansion of our global downstream business,” said Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and CEO of Yingli Green Energy. “We are pleased to partner with Namene, and believe that our JV is positioned to quickly execute and become successful in this market.”
“As one of the world’s leading solar panel manufacturers, Yingli has the right industry capabilities, brand and expertise to understand our local business requirements,” said Mr. Patrick Lagrange, CEO of Namene Energy International Limited. “Therefore, Yingli is an ideal partner for us to grow our business in this fast emerging market.”
“Namene is active in West Africa and has built a team of dedicated and highly experienced professionals with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the energy sector in this region. Therefore, our JV with Namene is expected to deliver significant synergies and value across the development and installation of large-scale solar projects in West Africa. These transactions will provide clean, reliable and affordable energy to a country with strong demand for power generation capacity to support further economic growth,” remarked Mr. Ralph Schneider, Head of Commercial of Yingli Europe. “By joining forces we can consolidate our downstream pipeline well into 2017 and beyond.”
About Yingli Green Energy
Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE), known as “Yingli Solar,” is one of the world’s leading solar panel manufacturers. Yingli Green Energy’s manufacturing covers the photovoltaic value chain from ingot casting and wafering through solar cell production and solar panel assembly. Headquartered in Baoding, China, Yingli Green Energy has more than 30 regional subsidiaries and branch offices and has distributed more than 13 GW solar panels to customers worldwide.
About Namene Energy International Limited
Namene Energy International Limited (“Namene”) is a developer of renewable energy solutions with a primary market in Africa. Namene is active in the solar photovoltaic market in Togo (Namene Energy Togo SARL) and Ghana (under the trading name SolarGen Ghana). Namene’s core business is in project development and financing. It brings to fruition turnkey investment programs (from site location to obtaining all the required permits and licenses) with above average return on investment. Namene offers investors only “bankable” projects ready to be implemented thus eliminating development risks. To achieve its goals, Namene has built a team of dedicated and highly experienced professionals both in the EU and West Africa with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the energy sector in the sub-region.
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