Sonnedix announced today that it will be co-investing with its local partner Yarotek LLC, more than $220 million in 72MW DC of solar PV power generation plants in the United States Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

One solar project consists of a 12 MW DC ground-mounted PV power plant located in the Puerto Rican Municipality of Salinas. The second project named Oriana is a 60 MW DC ground-mounted PV facility that will be located in the Municipality of Isabela and will be divided in two phases. Both projects will sell their electricity to the Puerto Rican Electricity Authority (PREPA) under 20 year Power Purchase Agreements (PPA).

The Salinas and Oriana projects are owned through a joint venture of Sonnedix and Yarotek which in December 2011 took all the necessary steps to enable the projects to qualify for the US Treasury Department 1603 cash grant program.

” These Puerto Rican solar power projects are a rare investment opportunity where solar generated electricity can sell below grid parity, offering the local utility long term energy savings by providing peak power at sub fossil fuel energy prices,” according to Andreas Mustad, Sonnedix CEO.

Luis Laguna, Regional Managing Director for Sonnedix, said ” We are committed to be a contributing member of the communities of Salinas and Isabela. By bringing clean energy to Puerto Rico, our 72MW of solar projects will generate 140 million kwh of electricity a year and displace 58,000 tons of CO-2, the equivalent to eliminating 14,500 cars and trucks from the local community . As tourism is an important part of Puerto Rico economy, providing for a cleaner environment adds to the appeal for a clean and sustainable destination “.

Sonnedix is a global solar IPP dedicated to the production of solar electricity. Sonnedix currently has solar projects in operation and construction in Europe, Asia and the USA, along with projects under development in other parts of the world.

Yarotek is a renewable energy company with predominant focus in utility-scale solar energy, both photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). Its primary markets are Southern USA and Puerto Rico.