Spire to Locate Solar PV Module Manufacturing Line in Ethiopia

Spire Corporation,  a global company providing solar photovoltaic equipment and systems, has  announced  that it will provide a 20 megawatt photovoltaic  module turnkey assembly line to the collaboration of SKY Energy International, Inc. located in Florida and Metals and Engineering Corporation  located in Ethiopia.

The module assembly line will be established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The facility will be the first state-of-the-art module manufacturing line in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Government has announced its goal to have 20% of its power capacity coming from solar energy within the next five (5) years.

Through their Rural Electrification Fund (REF), which was established in 2003 under the then Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ethiopian government have also been promoting and installing home solar energy systems and solar lanterns in off-grid areas of the country.   Ethiopia is known as the “country with 13 months of sunshine” , and as such is seeking to capitalize on it’s vast solar resources.   The government envisages distributing 150,000 home solar energy systems and 300,000 solar lanterns as part of this program.


“We are pleased to support SKY and METEC to bring solar to Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a nation where 80% of the population presently does not have access to electricity,” said Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire Corporation. “Solar energy can deliver clean electricity to remote areas of Ethiopia thus improving the quality of life and ability to further their agricultural pursuits.”

Source: Spire Corporation press release

Short URL: http://www.solarthermalmagazine.com/?p=18191

Posted by Tracey A. Smith on Apr 12 2012. Filed under Africa, Solar PV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry