E.ON forges ahead with Solar strategy

E.ON already has a pipeline of over 300 MW of PV plants in France and Italy and is constructing, with its partner Abengoa, two 50 MW Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants in southern Spain.
"Using our energy expertise and project management skills we are looking to drive our solar business from boutique to industrial as we do with our wind business," said Christophe Jurczak E.ON Climate & Renewables Director of Solar PV. "Working with partners like SunPower, Phoenix Solar and others we aim at bringing costs down and increasing efficiency".
In Italy E.ON Climate & Renewables is now building four PV plants with a combined capacity of 16 MW.
Two plants, located in provinces of Taranto and Alessandria, will start operations by the end of 2010. These two plants are using polycrystalline photovoltaic modules and will have a combined capacity of 9 MW.
Two additional plants in the provinces of Pavia (3.4 MW) and Viterbo (4 MW with trackers) are both due to start operations in spring 2011.
With more than 50 MW expected to be in construction by mid 2011, E.ON is quickly growing its PV capacity.
The global market for solar power will continue to see rapid growth in the coming years. The International Energy Agency estimates that global PV capacity could reach over 210 GW by 2020 of which over 70 GW will be utility scale and commercial PV farms.