China plans to light up Africa with solar

China plans to light up Africa with solar
The Independent Online (South Africa), Business Report
June 8 2011 at 05:17pm

China plans to build solar power projects in 40 African nations, aiming
at cutting the continent's reliance on fossil fuels and open a new
market for Chinese manufacturers, the biggest producers of solar panels.

The programme would require $100 million (R672m) in investment, Sun
Guangbin, the secretary-general of photovoltaic products at the China
Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Machinery and Electronic
Products, said in a recent interview

The projects would use competitive bidding and Chinese-made panels, Sun
added.

China is branching into clean energy after investing $10 billion last
year in Africa, where its traditional targets have been oil, minerals
and construction. That will help feed its burgeoning solar industry led
by JA Solar Holdings and Suntech Power Holdings, the largest makers of
cells used in photovoltaic panels that turn sunlight into power.

"China needs new emerging markets to consume their solar products
besides Europe, and Africa could be one of them," Sun said. "We'll begin
investigating this month in Africa to determine a suitable project in
each country, such as installing solar panels on the rooftops of schools
and hospitals."

Shares in the country's two biggest solar cell makers are cheaper than
most of their peers based on profit outlook.

Shanghai-based JA Solar is trading at five times expected 2011 profit.
Suntech, with headquarters in Wuxi, has a multiple of eight. Those are
below the average 14 times profit of the 37 member Bloomberg Global
Leaders Solar index.

Renewable energy is one of the seven "strategic emerging" industries
that the Chinese government said it would promote in the next five years.

Each installation in Africa would cost between 10 million yuan (R10.4m)
and 20 million yuan, Sun said. The chamber was authorised by China's
Ministry of Commerce to manage the inspection of sites with a group of
engineers, he added.

Terms of the tender process were not disclosed.

South Africa, the continent's biggest economy, derives about 90 percent
of its power from burning coal, one of the most polluting ways to make
electricity.

Developing renewable energy is one of eight measures that China's
Premier Wen Jiabao proposed in 2009 to aid Africa. The country plans to
build 100 clean energy projects on the African continent.

The export value growth of Chinese photovoltaic products, primarily
solar cells, would slow to about 60 percent this year, compared with a
107 percent increase last year, Sun said. This was due to an oversupply
as European nations, the biggest market in recent years, cut subsidies
for solar farms, Sun added.

Monocrystalline cell prices declined 7.5 percent last month to $1.14 a
watt from April and multicrystalline cells were down 8.7 percent at
$1.09 a watt, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
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