GCL New Energy Inc., a subsidiary of GCL Group, has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) for its Pioneer 110MW greenfield solar project in Colorado.
The Pioneer 110MW solar project is located on 611-acre site 35 miles east of Denver, Colorado where the land is flat and has good irradiance. The total annual yield of the Pioneer project is around 215 million kWh, and plans to call for connection to the grid in 2020.
The PPA has a fixed initial contract term of 10 years, with 3 optional 5-year extensions, for a possible 25-year lifetime. The project requires no security deposit and has low grid connection costs.
Through the Pioneer solar project, GCL New Energy will gain valuable experience developing a U.S. greenfield project, and can create a development model for future projects. The process includes land lock-up, an on-grid feasibility study, negotiating and signing a grid connection agreement, securing land permits, and PPA negotiation and signing.
By controlling development costs and altering its PPA negotiation strategy to adapt to fast-changing circumstances, GCL New Energy beat all well-known, established American developers to secure the agreement.
GCL New Energy has shifted its development strategy from focusing solely on the Chinese market to aggressively expanding in both the Chinese and overseas markets, and has been stepping up its capacity in overseas solar farm development. GCL New Energy has three regional headquarters in North America, Japan, and Africa. In 2017, it launched”Overseas Seeding Initiative” in key overseas target markets.
GCL New Energy is also pushing forward with its global goal of realizing 3GW+ of solar projects by 2020, and actively seeking strategic partners. It is exploring domestic and international markets with partners such as Power China, CEEC, CGGC, and Shanghai Electric, and has built close ties with internationally renowned companies such as Mitsui, Marubeni, Softbank, ACWA, Masdar, KEPCO and Macquarie.
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