Photovoltaic solar power grows fast in Spain

[jpak]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL1051297620071010

MADRID (Reuters) - Photovoltaic solar power plants are springing up throughout Spain, capitalizing on special tariffs for renewable energies and exceeding the government's expectations.

With the current momentum, Spain will be over its target for 2010 of 400 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) power by next summer, possibly having somewhere between 800 MW and 1,200 MW, according to the Industry Ministry.

"We already have 80 percent of the target," Industry Minister Joan Clos said at a European energy conference in Madrid earlier in October.

Feed-in tariffs, initiated in 2004 to reach the European Union's goal of increasing renewable energy use to 20 percent by 2020, guarantee energy produced from renewable resources will be bought at three times the normal market value for 25 years.

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