Gemini Solar Pushing Ahead In Austin Sunshine

Austin could get one of the biggest solar photovoltaic plants in the country if a deal is approved between Gemini Solar Development and the city-owned Austin Energy. But the planned 30-megawatt project comes as some companies are scaling back their sun-powered operations and laying off staff, so how can San Francisco-based Gemini Solar keep the momentum going?

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Although it was formed just four months ago as a joint venture between China’s Suntech Power Holdings and MMA Renewable Ventures, Gemini comes into Austin with some solid background in big solar. MMA Renewables owns and operates the one of the largest solar PV project operating in the U.S. today — the 14-MW solar array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, which went live in December 2007.

MMA Renewable and Suntech make quite the power couple, with MMA Renewable, part of Baltimore’s Municipal Mortgage & Equity, or MuniMae, handling the financing and development of large-scale solar projects, and Suntech taking care of the manufacturing of the solar cells and modules. However, both MuniMae and Suntech have had some recent difficulties: MuniMae, a real estate investment firm with more than $20 billion of assets under management, was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last year, and Suntech announced earlier this month that it laid off 800 people, or 10 percent of its staff.

Fortunately, there’s a long-term payoff if the solar plant is approved — Austin Energy plans to hand over $10 million per year under a 25-year power purchase agreement, with the project set to go online by the end of 2010. The plant is expected to cover 300 acres, with 171,000 Suntech polycrystalline silicon modules that will be ground-mounted on single-axis trackers that can follow the sun throughout the day.

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