Statement by the Developer of the Blythe Solar Power Project

Solar Trust of America, a leading integrated solar energy company and developer of the Blythe Solar Power Project, the largest solar facility in the world, last week issued the following statement:

Yesterday, Solar Millennium AG, the majority owner of the equity of Solar Trust of America, announced the initiation of insolvency proceedings in Germany. These proceedings do not directly impact Solar Trust of America, a Delaware limited liability company.

In May of this year, Solar Trust announced a memorandum of understanding to enter into a joint venture with solarhybrid AG to develop solar projects based on photovoltaic technology in addition to solar thermal technology. This business strategy reflected a response to dynamic solar market conditions. In furtherance of these initiatives, in October of this year solarhybrid announced plans to acquire substantially all of the projects of Solar Trust of America.

Today, solarhybrid announced the approval by its Board of a number of agreements which had been signed on December 1, 2011 among solarhybrid, Solar Trust of America, Solar Millennium and several respective affiliates. These agreements cover the purchase by solarhybrid of projects from Solar Trust of America with a total capacity of 1.75 GW. The agreements are still conditional upon further approvals by involved parties and upon further due diligence expected to be concluded in the first quarter of 2012.

Uwe T. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Solar Trust, said ‘The solar power market has changed radically in a short time. Earlier this year, Solar Trust of America made the tough but correct choice to change the technology of its projects from solar thermal to PV. With solarhybrid, we will soon complete that conversion, and proceed with construction of a number of the largest solar power facilities in the world.’”

About Solar Trust of America

Solar Trust of America is an integrated solar energy solutions company with several utility-scale solar energy projects under development throughout the American Southwest, including the 1,000 MW Blythe Solar Power Project, the largest solar project in the world. The company has 1,250 MW of additional solar power projects in advanced stages of development in California and Nevada. As a fully integrated company, Solar Trust of America works across the entire solar value chain, including project design, financing, procurement, construction, operation, and management. For more information visit www.SolarTrustofAmerica.com

SOURCE: Solar Trust of America

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Posted by Shelley Burke on Dec 28 2011. Filed under Concentrated Solar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry