Norwegian PV developer Scatec Solar and the country’s overseas development finance body, Norfund, have agreed to jointly invest in solar projects in developing countries.

The two organisations have already worked together on four PV power plants in South Africa and Rwanda, and now plan further projects in countries where Norfund operates.

Under the agreement, Scatec Solar and Norfund will together invest in and realise solar projects, with the two organisations taking a respective 70-30% share in the joint investment company.

Norfund has a presence in a number of countries in Central America, Africa, and south and Southeast Asia.

Scatec Solar chief executive Raymond Carlsen indicated that the two organisations’ main focus would be projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, drawing on Scatec’s experience in developing projects in the region.

He said: “Our common objective is to contribute to the increased implementation of renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the project-to-project cooperation we have had so far has proved very successful. Long-term financing is the key enabler to any solar project and will reduce the risk in all phases of the project execution.

“When Norfund invests in our projects, their backing from the Norwegian government combined with the company's excellent standing in the market will attract other investors as well. With the combined efforts of our two companies, we expect to realise more projects and a faster execution of each.”

Scatec Solar and Norfund have jointly developed projects totalling 200MW in Africa, three in South Africa and one in Rwanda, the country’s first utility-scale PV plant to date.

Kjell Roland, CEO of Norfund, said: “Norfund needs strong industrial partners like Scatec Solar in order to contribute to a sustainable development in poor countries. Our objective is to increase our investments and this type of long-term cooperation is a prerequisite for us to do so in a good and effective way.”

PV Tech was unable to ascertain further details on projects the two organisations plan to invest in.