ARBORESCENCE CAPITAL

First Solar, the American manufacturer of photovoltaic panels, agreed by to build in Northern China (Inner Mongolia) a solar power station of 2 Gigawatts. This installation, which will be the world’s biggest, should cover a surface of about 65 Km2 and feed with electricity a city equivalent to 3 million inhabitants.

This agreement was achieved in a more global context, where the Chinese government decided to support the development of the photovoltaic solar energy in a massive way.

Subsidies which cover approximately half of the cost of installation are allowed for any project of a minimal capacity of 50 kWc.

The First Solar project should extend over 10 years and be set up in 4 steps. Its cost is estimated at more than US$5 bn but the use of local work force should reduce this amount.

The target of China is to produce 15 % of its energy needs from renewable energies by 2020. In this context, the part of solar energy should increase from a capacity of less than 100 MW in 2009 to more than 10 Gigawatts at least in 2020.

The construction should begin from mid- 2010 with a first project of 30 MW which will serve as test. This project should allow First Solar, which is the first world manufacturer of photovoltaic panels (thin film), to reduce strongly its production costs because of the expected economies of scale and the possibility of settling a factory in China.

The challenge is in line with the current size of the group which produces near 750MW a year.

For more information, click on the following link : Website Desertec project : http://www.firstsolar.com/