Clear Skies Solar signs $8M India deal

Massapequa Park, N.Y.-based Clear Skies Solar (OTC: CSKH) today announced an agreement with India’s Prayag Green Solar Power to develop a 2-megawatt solar power plant in the northern Indian province of Uttar Pradesh.

Construction on the $8 million project is expected to begin before the end of the year.

Ezra Green, Clear Skies Solar’s CEO, noted in a release that the company has developed an expansion plan to take advantage of feed-in tariffs available for renewable energy projects in both Europe and Asia.

Also part of this strategy is the $1 million, 150-kilowatt solar project in Greece that Clear Skies Solar was awarded in August, he said.

At Cleantech Forum XIX, India’s minister of new and renewable energy Shri Vilas Mutemwar noted that 8 percent of India’s total installed grid capacity is derived from renewable energy sources including solar power (see Leapfrogging the West).

According to India’s Central Electrical Authority, the country currently has the capacity to produce 130,000 MW of electricity every year but has a peak energy shortage of more than 15 percent.

In April Clear Skies Solar partnered with Uttar Pradesh-based Power Cube to develop a 5-MW solar power system to feed into the community’s energy grid system. The solar plant is expected to be operational by early 2009 (see Clear Skies Solar to develop $20M India project).