Shares of Sustainable Energy Technologies (STG.V) rose by more than 20 percent early on Tuesday after it announced a tie-up with the solar unit of German engineering giant Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL].
Sustainable Energy, a small Canadian solar energy company, and Bosch Solar Energy (BSLRF.PK) will jointly market Bosch thin-film photovoltaic modules with Sustainable’s Sunergy inverters in the province of Ontario.
Ontario last October launched the most comprehensive and generous set of feed-in tariffs in North America, piquing the interest of Canadian and foreign renewable energy companies at a time when Europe is starting to roll back its support for the sector.
Inverters are key components of power systems that turn the sun’s rays into electricity as they convert the direct current output generated by the solar panels into the alternating current that the power grid runs on.
Bosch Solar and Sustainable Energy plan to build modules, or panels, and inverters in Ontario, meeting the province’s 2010 and 2011 domestic content thresholds, they said in a statement.
Their target is to install between 10 and 15 megawatts of solar power in 2010, rising to 50MW-75MW in 2011.
Privately held Robert Bosch, the world’s largest supplier of automotive parts with annual sales of more than 45 million euros ($33.3 billion), branched into the solar energy business in 2008.
The news sent Sustainable Energy’s shares flying as high as 41.5 Canadian cents a share, a rise of 7.5 Canadian cents or 22 percent, on the TSX Venture Exchange. ($1 = 0.74 euros; C$1.03)
