GE Initiates Milestone Solar Power Project

GE Energy Financial Services and its partners, PowerLight Corporation and Catavento, have started construction in Portugal of what will be the world’s largest solar photovoltaic power project.

The 11-megawatt solar power plant, comprising 52,000 photovoltaic modules, is under construction in the sun haven of Serpa, Portugal, 200 kilometers southeast of Lisbon.

GE Energy Financial Services is financing the project and will own the facility in a $75 million transaction. PowerLight, a global solar power system provider, has designed, and will operate and maintain the plant. Catavento, a leading Portuguese renewable energy supplier, developed the project and will provide management services.

Deliveries of photovoltaic modules and structural steel have begun, and construction of an electric substation is underway. The project, which is located on a 60-hectare southern-facing hillside that will remain productive farmland, is scheduled for full power operation by January 2007.

With no fuel cost or emissions, the Serpa solar installation will produce electricity sufficient to power 8,000 homes and save more than 30,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions compared with equivalent fossil fuel generation, GE believes.