Construction of a large solar power project with an investment of 450 million U.S. dollars was launched Saturday in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province in central China.

The 500-megawatt project is a joint venture of Greenway Solar-Tech (China) Co. Ltd. and Evergreen Solar Inc. of the United States, according to Ding Kongxian, chief executive officer of Greenway Solar-Tech.

The project is scheduled to go into production in three years with an annual product value of 1 billion U.S. dollars to turn out products related to solar power industry.

Nasdaq-listed Evergreen Solar manufactures and markets solar power products, including solar cells, panels and systems. It finalized its agreement with Greenway Solar-Tech and the government of Wuhan City on July 30.

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2009)