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Australia’s solar manufacturing company Heliostat has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Global Wind Power Limited (GWPL) for setting up solar projects in India. Heliostat has also entered into an agreement with Gravita for development of using solar energy for metal recycling.
The first MoU includes the development of utility scale solar projects with power generation developer GWPL - a leading wind turbine manufacturer and a joint venture between Reliance ADA Group and China Ming Yang Wind Power Group. “This is the first step in the development of a 1 GW solar projects portfolio in the solar rich regions of India - this amount of solar is enough energy to supply a city the size of Adelaide,” said Jason May, chief executive officer of Heliostat.
Heliostat manufacturers and distributes high quality and cost effective solar products from its Adelaide factory and a majority of its sales are to international export markets.
In the MoU, Heliostat will collaborate with Gravita for developing industrial concentrated solar power (CSP) thermal applications for metal recycling. “The development of solar thermal systems has a wide range of applications globally, including the reduction of foundry running costs,” said May.
According to May, Heliostat is on track to develop 50 mega watt and 100 mega watt projects initially with a view to delivering the 1 giga watt portfolio over the next four years. “This represents around $2.5 billion in investment and $1 billion in professional services and product sales.
Globally, countries are investing heavily in medium to large scale solar. The solar sector is in its infancy and is currently worth $5 trillion, one of the largest growing sectors in the world. “The India opportunity represents around half of our annual forecast turnover with projects in other countries and local Australian projects contributing to the remainder,” opined May.
