Rome, 15 May 2008 The Managing Director of Enels Market Division Francesco Starace and Sharps Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Toshishige Hamano, in the presence of Enel Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Fulvio Conti and Sharp Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Katsuhiko Machida signed an agreement to form a strategic partnership in the photovoltaic sector.
The Memorandum of Understanding provides for Enel and Sharp to carry out a detailed analysis for the construction in Italy of a plant for the integrated manufacture of photovoltaic panels using Sharps exclusive triple-junction thin-film technology. The output of the plant, whose size and structure is currently being assessed by the two companies, will mainly go towards meeting the rising demand for photovoltaic panels in Italy, South Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean basin.
Sharp and Enel.si, the sector-leading Enel Group company, will develop photovoltaic fields with a total capacity of 161 MWp by the end of 2011. Once fully in service, the plants will generate more than 220 GWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the needs of 81,500 households and to avoid some 110,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
The Sharp panels manufactured at the new plant will be distributed throughout Europe to meet the growing demand for this energy technology. Enel.si will also use the panels through its franchising network of more than 370 affiliates nation-wide in order to meet the strong demand from small and medium-sized enterprises and residential users. Furthermore, part of the output will be utilized to install photovoltaic fields in other countries of the Mediterranean basin where Enel already has a major presence and is strongly committed to the renewable energy sector.
Enel and Sharp have worked together for years on both commercial initiatives and in technology development. In particular, at Enels Catania site, work is currently under way to test new-generation photovoltaic concentrators using Sharp technology.
Sharp, a Japanese company listed on the Tokyo stock exchange, is a world leader in consumer electronics and in the manufacture of advanced photovoltaic panels.
Enel, a world leader in the generation of electricity from renewable sources with more than 20,000 MW of installed capacity, is expanding its efforts in this sector and in environmentally friendly technologies, with a programme of investments totalling 7.4 billion euros by the end of 2012.