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BP Solar Aims to Lead China Market in Joint Venture |
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| CHINA: December 2, 2005 | ||
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BEIJING - BP Solar has set up a joint venture in China producing and selling solar panels, aimed largely at bringing power to remote rural areas, that it hopes will lead the Chinese market, it said on Thursday.
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BP Sunoasis, set up with Chinese firm Sunoasis, has total investment of $10 million, a contract for 30 years of cooperation and will be trading by the end of this year if it gets regulatory approval, BP Solar said in a statement. It will be based in Xi'an -- home to China's terracotta warriors -- with annual production capacity of 25 megawatts (MW), which it aims to raise to 100 MW by 2010. The firm hopes to capitalise on government plans to boost the amount of energy it gets from renewable sources, in order to curb dependence on dirty-burning coal and growing oil imports. Beijing aims to increase its solar power base 500-fold by 2020, to 10,000 MW from 20 MW this year, the company said. Sunoasis has a 51 percent stake and will chair the board while BP Solar, which has had a sales and engineering team in China for over four years, holds 49 percent and will appoint the general manager. BP Solar, the world's third largest solar company, said in November that it is turning profitable for the first time in its 30 year history. Parent company BP said on Monday it planned to double its investment in greener energy sources over the next three years as concern over global warming grows.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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