CNOOC and Isofoton form JV in Tianjin China

China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the SOE parent of publicly listed offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Limited, has agreed to put US$300 million toward a Tianjin based joint venture with Spanish solar-panel maker Isofoton.

David Nealis President of Blue Bridge

From the JV CNOOC will gain a technology partner to help its expansion into the renewable energy sector, while allowing Isofoton to access the China market for sales, one of the world's fastest growing solar energy markets, amid a slowdown in the European market due to government subsidy cuts.

Isofoton has advanced solar technology that can convert close to 40 per cent of energy from sunlight into electricity, around double that of conventional solar panels that are on the market today.

The goal of the joint venture will to develop solar power plants with total generation capacity of 150 megawatts for the Chinese and other markets, Isofoton said.

China's solar power panel installation surged more than six-fold to 2.9GW last year, and became the largest market in Asia Pacific with a 48 per cent share, according to industry consultancy Solarbuzz.