With solar power set to grow over the next few years, EGP is investing in the technology around the globe, with projects in the pipeline that will bring 350 megawatts of capacity to Latin America and South Africa.
PV solar power is set to grow by 42 gigawatts over 2014, according to IHS, and the most optimistic forecasts by NPD Solarbuzz suggesting that it might grow by as much as 55GW. This predicted increase is part of a broad trend of growth in solar energy, says the recent World Energy Perspective: Cost of Energy Technologies, from which it emerges that PV solar will account for 16 percent of the world’s installed capacity by 2030.These estimates are a positive signal for Enel Green Power, which has 269 megawatts of installed PV solar capacity in Europe and North America and is investing in this technology around the world. It recently grid-connected the 10MW Podari facility, its fourth PV plant in Romania, following a period of growth that led to the installation of more than 25MW of PV capacity between July and October. It also connected the two new solar facilities in Borgo San Lazzaro and Spineto in Italy, which together have a total installed capacity of 21MW.
The projects it has in the pipeline will lead to a 130 percent increase of installed capacity. In Chile, EGP has started the construction of Diego de Almagro, its first solar power plant in the country, which is located in the region of Atacama. It will consist of about 225,000 modules, mostly the thin-film type manufactured by 3Sun, the joint venture enterprise run by EGP, STMicroelectronics and Sharp. Once built its installed capacity will be 36MW and it will be able to produce up to 80 gigawatt-hours.
PV solar technology is also at the centre of EGP’s growth in South Africa, where it will build four solar power facilities – Aurora, Tom Burke, Paleisheweul and Pulida – in the areas of the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Free State and Limpopo provinces with the greatest concentration of solar radiation. Between them they will have a total capacity of 314 megawatts peak, and here too the plants will be equipped with thin-film modules manufactured by 3Sun.