eSolar Goes to Africa

eSolar said Friday it has lined up a distributor in Clean Energy Solutions (CEC), which plans to market eSolar's concentrating solar thermal equipment in southern Africa.

The agreement is the latest for eSolar, which changed its business model earlier this year to focus more on selling equipment and licensing its technology rather than being a power producer. eSolar signed a licensing agreement with ACME Group in India earlier this year.

CEC will market and sell equipment from eSolar in seven countries including South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, eSolar said.

The Pasadena, Calif.-based company has developed a system for harnessing the sun's heat. A field of flat mirrors collect and direct the sunlight to heat the water in a tank atop of a central tower. The steam produced is then piped to a turbine for electricity generation.

Companies that also are developing similar, power-tower designs include BrightSource Energy in California, Abengoa Solar in Spain, and Torresol Energy, also of Spain. Torresol lined up €171 million almost a year ago to complete a 17-megawatt project called Gemasolar in southern Spain.

Africa is shaping up to be a desirable place for solar and other renewable energy development. A consortium of large renewable energy and banking firms in Europe made a splash in July when they announced their Desertec Industrial Initiative.

The consortium includes Abengoa Solar, Schott solar, Siemens, Solar Millennium, HSH Nordbank and Deutsche Bank. The initiative aims to build solar thermal power plants in north African desert and ship some of the electricity to Europe.

Abengoa Solar also has been developing projects in Morocco and Algeria.