Mitsui & C intends to enter Spain's solar power generation industry by purchasing an interest in a local solar power company.
The Japanese trading house will take a 30% stake in Guzman Energia SL, effectively partnering with Guzman's parent, contractor Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA. Mitsui's investment is expected to be several billion yen.
Guzman is currently constructing a solar power plant on the outskirts of Cordoba in southern Spain. The 50 MW project is expected to cost some 30 billion yen, with half to be covered by project financing. Using a government preferred-power-purchasing system, it will start supplying commercial power by late 2012.
The project will be a concentrating thermal plant using mirrors to heat a heat transfer fluid that in turn will produce steam to turn turbines. This approach offers the advantages of emitting no carbon dioxide during power generation and being more efficient than conventional solar power.
According to Mitsui, the project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 30000 tons a year.
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