Gestamp to Develop 300 Megawatts of Solar Projects in Japan

Gestamp Solar, a unit of Spanish industrial company Corporacion Gestamp, plans to develop 300 megawatts of solar power in Japan during a three-year period, mainly on rooftops.

The company is projecting the cost at $5,000 per kilowatt, Jorge Barredo, chief executive officer of Gestamp Solar, said today in Tokyo. Investment would be $1.5 billion at that rate.

“As an investor, we believe Japan offers a good environment and the Japanese market is one of our priority markets,” he said through a translator at a news conference.

The company plans to use mainly Japanese panels, Barredo said. “Japanese panels fit Japanese culture and we want to have businesses with local suppliers,” Barredo said.

Gestamp Solar develops and operates utility-scale solar plants. The company is among new entrants to Japan following the introduction of an incentive program for renewable energy in July to encourage investments in clean energy projects.

Included as part of the 300 megawatts, the company plans to develop at least 30 megawatts of solar on rooftops with Environmental Management Strategy Research Institute Inc., a Japanese consulting agency on energy management, Gestamp said in a statement today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net