OPEL Solar International Inc. (TSXV symbol: OPL) (“OPEL” or “the Company”), a leading global supplier of high concentration photovoltaic (“HCPV”) solar panels and other solar products including ground based and rooftop tracker systems, announced the signing of an Agreement to supply two HCPV solar power plants in Italy. Each solar utility plant will be approximately 1 MW HCPV power installations that will be built in Sicily, Italy. The orders combined revenue to OPEL approach five million dollars.
Beginning delivery in late 2011, these orders for OPEL’s HCPV solar modules spotlight HCPV solar in Italy. The solar plants will be eligible for receiving the CPV Feed-In Tariff of the Italian Government, which is €0.31/kWh currently for systems of this size, in addition to the market value for the sale of the electricity produced. According to a July feature article in Renewable Energy Focus.com, the installed base for CPV in Italy is targeted to attain 320 MWs by 2015.
Going forward, OPEL Solar and LIMEN shall have a close collaboration for the preparation, the construction and the commissioning of CPV solar power plants. To date, LIMEN has developed a multi-megawatt pipeline of CPV projects in Sicily and Sardinia. “The collaboration between OPEL and LIMEN in the Italian CPV market represents significant value growth for OPEL Solar’s stakeholders because of the HCPV potential in the Italian market,” said Leon M. Pierhal, CEO of OPEL Solar International. “The Italian climate is ripe for CPV; it is one of the best areas in the world for our solar technology to be deployed.”
“We are very pleased to partner with OPEL Solar in building CPV solar utility plants,” said Roberto Petti, Ph.D., head of the renewable energy division of LIMEN SA. “We believe OPEL Solar has the proven HCPV solar technology to be a market leader in Italy. Bringing an advanced solar energy technology to customers allows them to maximize their return on investments in green technology.”
The OPEL Solar HCPV module is called the Mk-I, and it is a high performance, reliable, cost effective product designed for utility grade grid-connected solar systems in medium to high solar irradiance climates. The high efficiency of the OPEL HCPV panel results in significantly higher power generation per unit of area when compared with both silicon flat panel and thin film installations.