BP Amoco Creates World's Largest Solar Company

BP Amoco is buying Frederick, Md.-based Solarex, one of the world's leading solar companies. The $45 million buyout of what was previously a 50-50 joint venture between Amoco and Enron will create the largest solar company in the world. The new company, BP Solarex, will build on the current business activities of Solarex and BP Solar, with manufacturing operations in the U.S., Spain, Australia, and India. Annual revenues for BP Solarex will be more than $150 million, representing a 20% share of the global market. BP Solarex will have a prime position in leading-edge solar technology, most notably the new generation of thin films, as well as offering the world's broadest product range in crystalline silicon. According to Sir John Browne, CEO, BP Amoco has a target of building a $1 billion solar business over the next decade in an attempt to provide progressively cleaner fuels that have a diminishing impact on the natural environment. BP Amoco recently announced plans to make cleaner fuels available in more than 40 of the world's major cities most troubled by pollution, and it has targeted a 10% reduction in its own greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2010.