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Israeli Electric Corp. to Build 240 MW Solar Power Plant in China

The 240-megawatt solar power project is IEC’s first such solar energy project and is its most ambitious development overseas, according to the Globes business newspaper. The world’s largest photovoltaic panel manufacturer, China’s Suntech Holdings, is to make the panels for the project.

The company’s vice president Yakov Hain and Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz visited China in April and met with Suntech’s officials. "Suntech is very interested in cooperating on subjects connected to photovoltaic technology and may be interested in financing R&D and joint projects," Hain said at the time, according to Businessweek.

Hain said IEC and Suntech may develop a joint R&D team to investigate methods of raising the efficiency of solar panels, pointing out that the current average energy output rate of 19 percent is "rather low." IEC’s Technology Innovation Center is studying ways of boosting the electric output efficiency to at least 40 percent, according to Hain. "We can use our creative minds and their experience to develop new equipment based on new materials," he said.

By José Santamarta, http://english.cri.cn/