BP Plc, the world's second-biggest oil company, plans to invest "many million dollars" to quadruple the current capacity of its solar energy joint venture in Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

 

In a drive to cash in on the booming renewable energy market in China, BP wants to expand the capacity of its Xi'an-based BP Sunoasis Co Ltd fourfold to 100 MW (megawatts) by 2010, said Mark Twidell, regional director of BP Solar's Australian and Asian business.

 

"We would like to take a fair share in China's expanding (solar energy) market," Twidell told China Daily yesterday in Xi'an.

 

In terms of investment in the new project, Twidell said "many million dollars" could be shelled out for BP Sunoasis, which now has a capacity of 25 MW and is minority-owned by BP.

 

China's surging energy demand and environmental concerns have prompted the Chinese Government to step up efforts to boost the use of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass, and industry analysts have predicted huge potential for these clean energies to fuel electricity generation.

 

According to the BP official, China's solar-based power generation market will reach 200 MW, from only 20 MW last year.

 

BP Sunoasis' increased capacity of 100 MW by 2010 will target both the Chinese market and other countries, Twidell added.

 

"There will be a balance between exports and domestic use (in China) from the Xi'an Sunoasis production," he said.

 

BP Solar last November signed a contract with China Xinjiang Sunoasis Co Ltd to set up BP Sunoasis in Xi'an, which is 51 per cent controlled by Xinjiang Sunoasis and 49 percent by BP.

 

The new venture has a registered capital of over US$10 million and represents a strategic move by BP Solar to bet on China's booming new energy market, BP said. It focuses on the manufacturing of both panels and panel automation equipment for the use of solar power generation.

 

Following the operational start-up in January, Twidell said the Xi'an plant would be able to make profit before 2010. "It is not likely for a joint venture to gain profit in the first year," he said.

 

BP has announced that it plans to spend up to US$8 billion in the next 10 years on renewable and low-carbon power generation technologies.

 

The plan would double the company's current investment in alternative power and focus on wind, solar, hydrogen and combined-cycle gas-turbine technologies, BP said. It is expected to generate revenue of around US$6 billion per year within the next decade.

 

China's solar energy equipment manufacturing market is heating up as both foreign and local firms jostle for a share.

 

The country's flagship local company is Jiangsu-based Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd. The company made its initial public offering debut last December and will increase the company's production capacity by almost tenfold in the next five years to reach 1,000 MW.

 

(China Daily October 19, 2006)