VivoPower is pleased to advise that the company has rebranded its U.S. solar development unit, formerly known as Innovative Solar Ventures I LLC, renaming the business Caret LLC, coupled with a new Power-to-X strategy for the business unit, in order to maximize value with a view to a future potential exit (as has been previously announced).
Caret comprises 12 development stage solar projects totaling 682 MW-DC, of which 11 are in Texas and one is in New Mexico. The projects are geographically diversified and strategically located in areas with relatively low solar project penetration. Each of the Caret projects has reached mid- to late-stage development status, with major interconnection and environmental studies completed and land secured for up to 40 years.
Since taking over full economic and management control of the Caret projects, the VivoPower team has been able to enhance the economics of the portfolio through value-added development activities including reduction of lease rates for a number of key projects. In addition, the Company is currently undertaking a re-evaluation of previously abandoned projects given the increasing potential demand from Power-to-X applications and partners.
Kevin Chin, Executive Chairman and CEO of VivoPower, said: “Power-to-X represents the use of excess renewable energy over and above baseload power for other energy-intensive applications. These include mining of cryptocurrencies, where we are seeing an increasing appetite from crypto-mining groups to vertically integrate their operations to include renewable generation plants. Another area where we expect to see strong demand is from the green hydrogen sector. This will especially be the case if the $1.2 trillion U.S. Infrastructure Bill is passed given the attractive incentives in the Bill for green hydrogen developers and producers. We believe the Power-to-X potential of Caret’s projects present a strategic pathway to maximizing value, even though solar development in isolation is no longer our core activity. Our intention is to re-invest proceeds generated from any potential monetization of Caret’s projects (with Power-to-X applications) back into our core sustainable energy solutions (SES) strategy.”
Once constructed and energized, the Company believes Caret’s projects have the combined potential to generate more than 1.3 terawatt-hours of zero-carbon electricity annually, enough to avoid over one million tons of carbon emissions each year (excluding previously abandoned projects).