The year 2015 has been characterized by the world’s commitment to clean energy. At least since the climate agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in December 2015 in Paris, there is a global consent to reduce CO2 emissions and to encourage the usage of clean energy sources. The Swiss-based solar energy provider The meeco Group has supported this development through a multitude of successful solar power projects. In retrospective t he meeco Group in 2015 has build on the developments of 2014 in terms of product and projects and has executed across all of its global markets a continuously growing number and vast variety of solar power and energy storage. “We could achieve all forecasted results”, assures Thomas Beindorf, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at meeco. “Our international team consisting of a network of dedicated experts, partners and joint ventures has grown and we extended the number of subsidiaries and target markets.”
The Caribbean islands Antigua and Barbuda became a key part of meeco’s expansion. The first 3 MWp PV sun2live power plant (of a totally contracted and sanctioned capacity of 10MWp) installed at the southwest sho ulder of the V.C. Bird International Airport of Antigua represented one of the flagship projects of that year, embodying a new approach to provide energy-intensive facilities with clean power. The recently commissioned project has been realized by the meeco joint venture PV Energy Ltd. within 87 days, which will accomplish further large-scale projects in the Caribbean this year. Another PV solar power plant with the size of 4 MWp is under construction at the Bethesda area on Antigua and as well as a 1 MWp solar energy plant on the neighbouring island Barbuda, will be completed by PV Energy Ltd. in 2016. In line with the endeavour to bring solar power whilst stabilizing the grid the project in Antigua will be expanded as well in 2016 with a MW sized battery storage and grid optimizing system – to be locat ed right on the airport facility. Beyond that, PV Energy Ltd. will equip on the island of Antigua the roofs of more than 50 schools and other public buildings with altogether 2 MWp sun2roof distributed PV power in order to take a further step towards environmental sustainability.
At the same time, meeco supports educational institutions to take control of their own energy budgets and supply so as to combat power outages and the universal challenge of global warming. For this purpose, meeco has been providing customized solar power solutions for schools in emerging countries. Last year, the partnership created between meeco and the Indian Shiv Public School has been an outstanding and commendable success. Thanks to the energy management system sun2safe developed, designed and engineered by meeco, the Indian learning institution is now able to save up to 6,850 litres of Diesel per year and significantly reduce associated CO2 emissions.
To address the wide range of requirements and needs of vastly different customer groups such as individuals, businesses, communities and utilities, meeco develops and designs customized and tailor-made energy generation and storage solutions suitable for particular areas, from on-grid to off-grid. To keep pace with rapidly developing technologies, the meeco team of clean energy experts is constantly adapting and perfecting its whole series of turnkey solutions. New levels of performance and competitiveness at reduced prices have been reached last year, particularly through the implementation of the new generations of the flexib le solar power system sun2go and energy management system sun2safe, both ensuring returns on investment in an even shorter period of time.
In 2015 the group has extended its geographic presence and as well its strong international network. “We have opened up new subsidiaries and entered into new joint ventures in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa”, reveals the CFO, Konstantin Wolf. As the weather conditions in Africa are fitting perfectly to the requirements of solar energy, this market is particularly attractive to meeco. The recently founded oursun joint venture in Zimbabwe will counter the current energy crisis and aid the local community on their path towards energy efficiency and self-sufficiency. To avoid energy shortages individual solutions like the energy management solution sun2safe will ensure the energy supply in private households. Last year more than 30 energy management systems have been delivered already.
The creation of a further joint venture in Sri Lanka has accelerated the company presence in Asia. In the first quarter of 2016 a show case rooftop installation is going to be connected on one of the roofs of the headquarters of the joint venture partner, located in the canter of Colombo – the capital city of the island Sri Lanka. The global expansion of meeco and its strong and dedicated partners will proceed, with the development of additional markets in 2016, especially in Latin America, Canada, Asia and Africa.
