SunEdison to Build Europe's Largest Solar Power Plant in Rovigo, Italy

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.sunedison.com/press_releases.php?id=94

Press Releases

SunEdison to Build Europe's Largest Solar Power Plant in Rovigo, Italy

Rovigo, Italy - March 11, 2010 - SunEdison, a division of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE: WFR), received final approval from the Italian government to develop and construct a 72 Megawatt (MW) photovoltaic solar power plant in Northeastern Italy, near the town of Rovigo. When completed, this is expected to be the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant in Europe.

Power generation will begin in the second half of 2010 with final completion expected by year end. In the first full year of operation, the system will generate sufficient energy to power 17,150 homes and avoid 41,000 tons of CO2 --the equivalent of removing 8,000 cars from the road.

SunEdison will jointly develop the project with financing partner Banco Santander. Additional financial partners are expected to join the project for final ownership.

"SunEdison is focused on enabling the growth of global solar markets through strong capabilities in project finance, engineering, low-cost procurement and operations and maintenance services," commented Carlos Domenech, President of SunEdison.

"Veneto is taking decisive action to advance the use of clean, renewable energy sources," said Renzo Marangon, government official of the Veneto region. "At the same time, this project is expected to create over 350 local construction jobs and build expertise in advanced energy technologies. We expect Rovigo to serve as a European model for large-scale, alternative-energy projects."

"A critical element of our approach is working closely with the right partners," added Pancho Perez, General Manager for Europe and MENA region at SunEdison, "including developers, suppliers and contractors. For the Rovigo project, we selected Isolux Corsan, a large-scale infrastructure construction company with a strong track record in utility-scale solar plants."

"We are pleased to be selected by SunEdison to construct the largest PV solar plant in Europe. We are looking forward to extending this partnership beyond Italy," said Luis Delso, President of Isolux Corsan.

At 72 megawatts, this solar-power plant will be the largest in Europe. Currently, the largest facility is a 60MW solar farm in Olmedilla, Spain, followed by a 50 MW in Strasskirchen, Germany , built by MEMC through a joint venture agreement.

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[NNadir]

1. In nearby Switzerland, the capacity utilization of solar energy is about 10%.

This means "Europe's largest" will be the equivalent of a 7MW continuously fired plant of any type.

So much for the "solar miracle."

If this piece of trash were worth anything, it wouldn't require any note, any more than a dangerous natural gas plant in the Gymnasium at a large University.

But it does. And that says everything one needs to know.

Of all the countries in Europe that announced, at various times, "nuclear phase outs" Italy is the only one that actually shut all of its nuclear power plants.

It was necessary, shortly thereafter to construct all kinds of trunk lines under the Adriatic Sea to have access to Greece's coal fired plants.

Enel has been trying to buy interests in nuclear plants in France, Slovakia and elsewhere.

France, I believe, told them to screw off at Flamanville. They can buy power like any other European electric country from France, but they can't own the plant.

Italy is the home country of Enrico Fermi, the consumate genius who built the world's very first nuclear reactor.

It's a tragedy that ignorance took so much power there.