Sharp, Enel in ¥20-billion solar power venture

02 December 2008

Sharp Corporation and Italy's largest power company, Enel SpA will establish a joint venture to operate as an independent power producer with their own facilities to generate electric power for sale to utilities and end users.

The two companies plan to develop a number of photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of 189 MW by the end of 2012 at an investment of around ¥100 billion yen between 2009 to 2010.

They will set up photovoltaic power plants mainly in southern Italy and will utilise thin-film solar cells, which they said offerred superior power generating efficiency in hot-climate regions.

In the future, the two companies are looking into expanding their power production business to cover countries of the Mediterranean region.

Sharp and Enel will rope in a third European manufacturing partner to join in the venture to produce thin-film solar cells, at a solar cell plant in Italy. The plan envisages the plant to expand annual production capacity for generating 1 GW of power some time later. The initial phase of development will put in place a production system having an annual capacity of 480 MW, to start operations around the middle of 2010.

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 memorandum of understanding in December.