Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

Suntech signs deal with Italian EPC provider

Despite the troublesome involvement of Suntech's Italian investment arm Global Solar Fund with the public prosecutor's office in Brindisi, the Chinese manufacturer has signed an agreement to supply 25 MW of panels to Italian EPC company SunSystem S.p.A.

Suntech has signed a deal with an Italian EPC provider to supply modules for two Romanian photovoltaic plants.

Suntech

The panels will be used by SunSystem's Romanian unit RoEnergy to power two solar projects in Romania, which are set to be online next year.

The deal comes days after Suntech, whose share price took a battering as a result of its problems in the south of Italy, signed off on an agreement to supply 100 MW of panels to a consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power for two photovoltaic plants in South Africa.

A number of officers connected to Global Solar Fund are currently on trial in Brindisi, accused of artificially sub-dividing a number of photovoltaic projects in the region into smaller schemes in order to qualify for the less stringent permitting regime applied to projects of less than 1 MW capacity.

Five plants, totaling 2.83 MW are involved, and Suntech admitted in May 2011 the case could cost it €9.6 million (US$12.4 million), but a further 11 plants are expected to be drawn into the investigation with the 16 plants totaling 20 MW.

Under Italian law, a guilty verdict in the trial would mean demolishing the plants which, the court estimates, would have cost around €80 million to construct.

The public prosecutor's office in Brindisi told pv magazine the trial is expected to conclude on January 31, 2013.