Sharp and Italy’s largest utility company Enel will set up a European joint venture to produce solar panels — a move that highlights the Japanese electronics company’s ambition in this key green business.
The two will invest ¥100 billion (US$1 billion) from next year to 2012 in the joint venture for power generation, and a still unidentified third European manufacturing firm will join in the manufacturing part of the business, Sharp said.
Sharp did not disclose a monetary investment on the solar cell plant, which will be built in southern Italy with plans to be running by the middle of 2010, it said. But it’s likely to top ¥72 billion, Sharp said.
Sharp and Enel plan to build the factory with initial output of 480 megawatts by the summer of 2010, with potential to expand to 1,000 megawatts, enough to power about 250,000 Japanese homes, making the plant among the world’s largest, it said.
The planned plant will build thin-film solar cells, which are newer and more environmentally friendly than the crystal kind made of silicone, which are now more common.
“Sharp is moving quickly to initiate the world’s first ‘solar business model’ by joining with a power company in an integrated business approach,” the Osaka-based manufacturer said.
Sharp has been stepping up investment in solar panels to boost market share, hoping to clinch the No. 1 spot from leader Q-Cells AG of Germany.
Sharp executive Toshishige Hamano said Sharp would be a minority stockholder in the joint venture, but the breakdown in ownership had not yet been decided. Italy is the perfect place for the plant because of the region’s strengths in solar energy, he said.
“We are aiming to become a comprehensive company in solar cells, relying on our technology and expertise that we have built over 50 years,” he told reporters at Sharp’s Tokyo office.
Sharp last month boosted its thin-film solar cell production at its Katsuragi factory in western Japan, which mainly produces conventional silicone cells.
Sharp is also building a plant for thin-film solar cells in nearby Sakai City for launch in 2010. It produces crystal solar cells at Katsuragi and operates plants in the US and Britain.
Earlier this year, Sharp and Enel announced a separate project to jointly build a solar power plant in Italy.
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