Sharp, Enel To Invest In $1Bln Italy Solar Power Venture

Tokyo, Japan - Sharp Corp. announced Thursday that it is planning to initiate the world’s first “solar business model” by joining with a power company. Under the business model, the companies are expected to manufacture of thin-film solar cells to IPP activities. Sharp is working towards becoming a company providing total solutions based on solar cells.

The statement from the company said that Japan's Sharp and Italy’s largest power company, Enel SpA, will establish a joint venture in the spring of 2009 to operate as an independent power producer and will develop a number of photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of 189 MW by the end of 2012.

A number of photovoltaic power plants will be set up mainly in southern Italy and will utilize thin-film solar cells, which offer superior power generating efficiency in hot-climate regions. The two companies are looking into expanding their IPP business in the future to cover countries of the Mediterranean region other than Italy with a view toward further strengthening their cooperative relationship.

Regarding cooperation in the production of thin-film solar cells, the plan is for Sharp, Enel, and a third un-named European manufacturing company to construct a thin-film solar cell plant in Italy with the potential to expand annual production capacity to around 1 GW in the future.

The initial phase of development will put in place a production system having an annual capacity of 480 MW, with the aim of starting operations around the middle of 2010. The amount of investment would be approximately 100 billion yen ($1 billion), which would be spend between 2009 and 2012.

The three companies are working out the details of establishing the joint venture to manufacture thin-film solar cells in Italy, and plan to sign a MoU in December.

Geographically, Italy lies at the heart of a project adopted at the Union for the Mediterranean summit held in July 2008, namely, a “Mediterranean solar plan” that aims to develop power generating facilities with a capacity of 20 GW by 2020.

The Osaka-based manufacturer said, Sharp and Enel will work together in the future with the goal of strategically expanding renewable energy in Europe, including in the Mediterranean region.

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