Suntech supplying panels to two Shikun & Binui solar plants

The Sde Boker facility will generate five megawatts, and the Hatzerim facility six megawatts.

Chinese solar panel manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) will supply panels to the first solar energy field, which is under construction at Sde Boker. The size of the deal was not disclosed but market sources believe it to be worth $20 million. Suntech will also supply panels to another solar energy field, which is under construction at Kibbutz Hatzerim.

The 9,000 square meter Sde Boker facility will generate five megawatts of electricity, and the 10,000 square meter Hatzerim facility will generate six megawatts. Shikun & Binui Renewable Energy Ltd. is building both projects. The solar panels in the two new projects will be supplied by Enerpoint Israel Ltd., a significant distributor of Suntech products in Israel. In total, the two new projects will be able to generate 19.91 Gigawatthours of electricity per year, offsetting about 13,000 tons of carbon.

The project's developers say that the Sde Boker solar energy field closes a circle: in 1956, Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, predicted that solar energy would become the primary source of energy in the future.

Suntech has supplied solar panels to half of the solar energy systems built in Israel today, through Enerpoint. Suntech, the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels, has been in financial difficulty this year, after it failed to repay $500 million in German bonds. In Israel, however, Suntech has continued business as usual.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 21, 2013

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

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