The factory’s initial PV panel production capacity of 160MW per year will be financed through a combination of self-financing, EUR49m in funding from the CIPE (the Italian Joint Ministerial Committee for Economic planning) and project financing provided by banks.
The project 3Sun will leverage Enel’s knowledge in the development of renewable energy on international scale and in project management, Sharp’s triple-junction thin-film technology and STMicroelectronics’s manufacturing
know-how in technology sectors such as microelectronics for the production of the PV panels.
The factory, whose yearly output is expected to reach 480MW over the coming years, is expected to begin panel production in the second half of 2011.
The project, whose total installed capacity is expected to be over 500MW by 2016, has been developed to serve the solar markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean area.
Enel and Sharp have also created a separate joint venture, Enel Green Power & Sharp Solar Energy (ESSE), for the development of solar farms that will use the panels from the Catania plant to generate and sale of electricity in the Mediterranean region.
