Oliveira de Frades, Portugal, January 7th 2010. Martifer Solar has signed a contract with the Ministry of Economy of Cape Verde to build two solar photovoltaic plants of 5 and 2.5 MW, respectively, on the islands of Santiago and La Sal. The facilities will produce 4% of the total energy of this African archipelago and will go directly to consumption.

These projects situate Martifer Solar at the top of the international installers and Cape Verde at the top of Africa in terms of photovoltaic solar energy. The facilities, turnkey projects, will involve an investment of around 30 millions of Euros and will be operated directly by the national electricity company. The modules used are wholly produced in the Martifer Solar factory located in Oliveira de Frades, Portugal.

The photovoltaic plants have a completion date of seven months and will be, at its inauguration, the two largest in Africa. The plant in Santiago Island, in Praia city, will have an installed capacity of 5 MW; the plant installed in Santiago Island will have an installed capacity of 2.5.

“The Cape Verdean government has awarded a contract to Martifer Solar for the installation of two turnkey solar photovoltaic plants in Cape Verde, amounting to a total of nearly 30 million, the plants will produce nearly 4% of the electricity production capacity of the African country, Martifer Solar is so proud to contribute to the Cape Verde energy diversification “, explained Henrique Rodrigues, Martifer Solar CEO.

Pioneer Project

Martifer Solar will supply the solar photovoltaic modules required for the two plants.  The company’s pv module factory with a production capacity of 50 MW per year, is equipped with the most efficient technology and full automation of the market. It produces polycrystalline solar modules in a power range from 220 to 240 Wp.

The two implementations will avoid emissions of 13 thousand tons of CO2 annually, the main agent causing the greenhouse effect. All the energy produced will go directly to the consumer so that we can say that this is a pioneering project in the entire African continent.
Martifer also signed a protocol to provide specialized technical assistance in the implementation processes of pilot micro photovoltaic solar energy production in the main towns of the country as well as conducting economic feasibility studies for the installation of a geothermal plant on the Island of Fogo.

About Martifer
Martifer is a multinational group with over 3000 employees whose core businesses are metallic construction and renewable energy. Martifer is the Iberian market leader in metallic construction, and aims to achieve market leadership positions in other selective markets, namely in Central Europe and Angola.
In renewable energy sector, Martifer has established itself as a reference integrated supplier of turnkey solutions, both in the wind power and the solar power segments. Also in the renewable energy field, Martifer operates as a developer of power generation assets and manages its participation in a number of projects at different stages of development. Martifer SGPS SA is the holding company of the Group and has been listed on Euronext Lisbon since June 2007. In 2008, the revenues from its core businesses reached 650 million euros.

Martifer Solar is the division of solar energy of the Martifer Group, established in Italy, Greece, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and the United States, during the year 2008 it participated in the implementation of over 40 MW of photovoltaic solar energy in Europe.