Japan's Eurus enters solar market

Tokyo's Eurus Energy Holdings, the biggest wind power operator in Japan, said today it would expand into the solar power business with a project in South Korea.

The company said its first step into solar would be to construct a 1 megawatt photovoltaic power station in Jeollabuk-do, with commercial operation to start in June of this year.

The solar panel farm will reportedly cost $7.3 million.

Eurus said the project will go up in one of the areas with the highest volume of photovoltaic radiation throughout the year in Korea.

According to the company, the Korean government has established a goal of producing 5 percent of its total power generation from renewable sources by 2011, targeting 1,700 MW for wind power and 1,000 MW for photovoltaic.

Eurus, which currently operates 352 MW of wind power in Asia, has its largest wind power generation plant in Gangwon-do, in the northeast of South Korea.

A joint venture of Tokyo Electric Power and Toyota Tsusho, Eurus has wind farms in six countries with a total capacity of 1,336 MW.