Oct 24 2011
The president of the Murcia Community, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, and Klaus Gehrlicher, founder and CEO of the German photovoltaic company Gehrlicher Solar AG, met on October 20th to announce major solar power investments within the next five years.
Murcia, Spain. In the meeting, Klaus Gehrlicher explained the investment package the group committed to apply to the region of Murcia within the next five years and expressed his gratitude towards the Community government regarding their support for photovoltaics. Gehrlicher said: “The strategy of Gehrlicher Solar España is to continue to expand throughout the region of Murcia. Thus we are working on the development of plants with lower capacity for the next two years, as well as on the planning of major projects with a total capacity of 200 to 400 MWp.” 
Furthermore, Klaus Gehrlicher explained the five projects with a total power of 12 MWp which the company has carried out this year in the region. Three of them have already been connected to the municipalities of Lorca, Cartagena and Murcia. The grid connection of the other two projects sited in Lorca is scheduled for the end of this year. These five ground-mounted photovoltaic plants meant an investment of approximately 32 million Euros to the region of Murcia.
Francisco Espín, CEO of the Spanish branch of Gehrlicher Solar España sited in Bullas, underlined the origin of the company in the Murcian Community and presented further projects in several Spanish provinces. On the whole, Gehrlicher Solar España has installed 23 MWp of solar power in 2011, most of them on ground.
Espín also gave an outlook on the company’s business in South America, which is operated by Gehrlicher Solar España: “We are currently leading the starting expansion process in South America, precisely in Brazil, where we are present with an own branch since December, 2010. We will soon start the construction of the first photovoltaics system on a soccer stadium in Latin America – the Pituaçu Stadium in Salvador de Bahía with 403 kWp power. The next targeted market is Chile, where we are currently establishing a subsidiary.”