Sharp, Enel in Italian solar power venture: report

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp is to join forces with Italy's Enel SpA on solar power generation, aiming for output capacity of more than 160 megawatts by the end of 2011, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday.

That would rank the venture among the world's largest solar power operations, it said.

The companies have agreed to set up solar power plants across Italy as Sharp tries to expand its clean energy business and reduce production costs, the Nikkei said.

The two companies are also considering building a plant in Italy specializing in the production of so-called thin-film solar cell panels developed by Sharp, with the investment possibly amounting to several tens of billions of yen, the paper said.

The Nikkei added that it had not been decided whether the factory would be launched together or by Sharp alone.

By building overseas plants, Sharp aims to raise its annual production capacity for solar cell panels to 6,000 megawatts from the current 710 megawatts, the paper said.

No one at Sharp could be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Alan Raybould)