India's XL Telecom Moves into European Solar Power Market

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--XL Telecom & Energy Limited (BSE:532788) (Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh), a leading Indian telecom equipment manufacturer and producer of solar panels and cells, has announced that it is setting up a series of solar farms across Europe to generate a total of 300 megawatts (MW) of solar power. The project will span three years; the first solar farm will be built in Majorca in Spain at an estimated cost of $12 million with an installed capacity of 1.6 MW. XL claims the distinction of being the first Indian company to set up a solar power plant abroad.

The solar plant in Spain will be built, owned, commissioned and operated by Saptashva Solar Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of XL- Spain. Saptashva has made a power purchase agreement with a domestic power firm for 25 years to sell solar power generated from the Majorca plant. This will ensure a 20% return on investment of around $24 million from the plant in the initial phase. The project is expected to be commissioned within 12 months once financial closure is attained.

XL is eyeing the huge potential European market for solar power projects amidst growing global interest in using renewable and non-polluting sources of energy. Over the next three years, XL will be setting up solar farms in Italy, Portugal, France and other European countries in addition to Spain. Spain promotes solar power usage by offering high subsidies--as much as 50 cents for every kilowatt hour created from solar power. Spain has a target of producing 1,200 MW of power from solar farms annually. In addition to setting up solar plants through Saptashva, XL is also selling solar panels to other solar-power generators in Europe. As of March 2008, the company had an order book of $137 million for solar panels in Europe.

Incorporated in Secunderabad in 1985, XL is one of the leading global players in the solar power sector that offers end-to-end solutions by manufacturing solar photovoltaic cell modules, establishing solar farms and generating power using solar technologies. The solar panels are available in a range of peak power specifications and use XL-24-195Wp Crystalline Solar Modules. This technology uses solar cells that are highly efficient and provide maximum power.

The solar panel manufacturer is setting up a new 120-MW plant to manufacture solar cells and is augmenting the capacity of its module-making plant by 40 MW at a total investment of $75 million. The plant is expected to be operational by December this year and will cater to the soaring demand for solar cells in the U.S. and European markets.

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