20 June 2011
Opel Solar International Inc., a supplier of high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) solar panels and other solar products including ground-based and rooftop tracker systems, today announced that the company has closed on a second agreement for its HCPV panels and dual-axis trackers.
This success in penetrating the China market comes six months after the formation of Opel Solar Asia (OSA), which has signed an agreement with the second of the five national power utilities in China for the supply and installation of Opel's HCPV systems to be deployed in the region of Inner Mongolia in China. OSA is the joint venture of Opel Solar International's subsidiary, Opel Solar, Inc., in the US and Ecotech Environmental Technology Ltd. based in Hong Kong, China.
The agreement essentially doubles the number of HCPV panels and trackers to be delivered by Opel and deployed in China this year. With more than 5 megawatts (MW) in orders already received, this new agreement significantly exceeds the orders originally forecast when the joint venture was formed. This new achievement by OSA in China reinforces the rapid progress in Opel's long-term objective to penetrate the HCPV market in East Asia. Many experts believe East Asia, and especially China, will be the fastest-growing CPV solar market in the world. The central government in China has already doubled the PV installation targets from 5 gigawatts (GW) to 10GW by 2015.
The second national utility is chartered with generating electricity primarily from renewable energy sources. After evaluating different alternatives in conjunction with one of the regional electric power design institutes, Opel's HCPV technology was found to be efficient and suitable to meet the utility's goals for solar-generated energy. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2011 and to be completed during 2012.
Because Ecotech has an established network of local manufacturers, it expects to transition OSA to more local manufacturing as volumes ramp. As manufacturing processes attain full efficiency, OSA is expected to assume full responsibility for manufacturing and installing complete HCPV utility-grade solar farms.
