Sharp to shed US solar arm to Canadian Solar - report

Dec 8, 2014 - Japan’s Sharp Corp (TYO:6753) intends to sell its US solar unit Recurrent Energy to Canadian Solar Inc (NASDAQ:CSIQ) for about JPY 30 billion (USD 247m/EUR 201m), the Nikkei said yesterday.

Sharp’s goal is to complete a basic agreement with the Chinese-Canadian photovoltaic (PV) module maker by end-December, while the deal is expected to be wrapped up by the spring of 2015, according to the report.

Sharp acquired Recurrent Energy in September 2010 for JPY 25 billion. There have been various reports and speculations on the sale of the US solar project company in the past two years. In September, Sharp launched a tender for the sale of the US firm and selected 10 bidders in the first round. Canadian Solar has reportedly offered the highest amount in the second round, held in November, the business daily says.

San Francisco-based Recurrent Energy owns a solar project pipeline of some 3.3 GW and has more than 1.1 GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs), it says on its website. It has developed and sold more than 520 MW of PV schemes since 2006.

If the deal is finalised, the Japanese group will exit the solar market in North America. Earlier this year, Sharp halted solar panel production in the UK, shut down its production facility in Tennessee and pulled out of a joint venture with Italian utility Enel Green Power (BIT:EGPW) and Franco-Italian chip maker STMicroelectronics (EPA:STM) as part of a strategy to divest non-core foreign operations.

(JPY 100 = USD 0.823/EUR 0.670)

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