eSolar, a developer of concentrated solar thermal power technology, and Germany’s Ferrostaal are planning to jointly develop CSP power plants across the global sunbelt, including Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa.
Under the terms of the deal eSolar will provide solar field and receiver technology and Ferrostaal will provide the power block as well as project management and manage project financing.
This is not the first time eSolar forms a strategic partnership with an outside company. Last year it inked a deal with NRG Energy, which is investing $10 million in for the right to use eSolar’s technology to develop and operate three solar power projects that combined are set to generate 500 megawatts of electricity.
In this challenging funding market a number of eSolar’s competitors, also backed by promising technologies but with thin balance sheets, are forging partnerships of their own, even selling themselves outright to bigger companies. That’s what solar thermal power developer Ausra did last week when French nuclear reactor maker Areva acquired it.
In a prepared statement released yesterday eSolar’s newly appointed CEO John Van Scoter said:
This partnership with Ferrostaal is a real coup for eSolar! Ferrostaal’s extensive construction capacity and expertise – particularly in the concentrated solar thermal field – together with eSolar’s award-winning technology, offers us the opportunity to rapidly construct solar power projects across the globe in coming years.