BETASOL, BETASOL, who art thou BETASOL?
2.375 MegaWatt (MW) High Concentration PhotoVoltaic (HCPV) deal has partial funding.

On April 21, 2009, “OPEL Int’l and BETASOL Increase Solar Footprint with Second Utility Grade Solar Farm in Spain”:

announced that BETASOL, its Spanish partner, has expanded its HCPV opportunity in Spain and has obtained a bank aval or guarantee of more than US $1,500,000 (1,187,500 €) for a new HCPV solar project. As a result, BETASOL has applied for permits to build a new utility grade solar farm. BETASOL’s business is building utility grade solar farm installations for subsequent sale to investor groups.

The solar farm will provide a total of 2.375 megawatts (MW) of solar power to the region generated by solar high concentration photovoltaic panels on dual axis tracking systems.

While OPEL International Inc. (CVE:OPL) declined to discuss the cost or potential revenues of the project, it appears safe to conclude the installed cost is greater than $0.63 per Watt. The bank guarantee amounts to perhaps 10% of the required project financing.

Updating the 440 kW BETASOL project, OPEL said:

OPEL previously announced the shipment of its Mk-I HCPV panels for the first BETASOL installation. Shipment began in December 2008, and is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2009.

This represents a project completion delay of one quarter since my post, OPEL International 440kW HCPV install deal with enigmatic BETASOL, said:

OPEL claims Mk-I HCPV panel (Mk-I datasheet) shipments for the Spanish installation began in December 2008, and the project is slated for first quarter 2009 completion.

I asked OPEL International a number of questions about this 2.375 MW and the 440 kW BETASOL projects:

• What is the exact location of the proposed project?
• What is the estimated cost? 2.375 MW @ ~$6/Watt (my guess) = $14.25 million in total financing required?
• Who can I contact at BETASOL to confirm this deal?
• What is the exact location of the first project? Are recent construction photos available?

After an encouraging response about a possible interview, OPEL directed their PR firm to state:

…it is OPEL’s company policy not to give out the exact locations of the current solar farms and not to disclose proprietary pricing information.

Of course, this means the deals and installations cannot be verified. I am curious why the company would take this approach? I have not planned an “In Search of” investigation in Spain – yet.

BETASOL remains elusive except for press release quotations from BETASOL Managing Director Jesus Cabetas.

OPEL pushed out another press release, “OPEL International Announces a New USA Manufactured Solar Tracker Product”, on Wednesday. I guess there is no point in asking any questions.

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