By Renewable Energy Focus staff

The solar power plant will be at around 4000 m above sea level in Chek Kang village in the Sangri County, Shannan Prefecture, Tibet.

Suntech aims to complete installation by the end of 2011. The solar power plant is expected to generate around 20 GWh annually.

"With intense sunlight and cool temperatures, Tibet is extremely well-suited for the utilisation of advanced photovoltaic technology," says Dr Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Founder, Chairman and CEO.

"We're proud to invest in preserving the region's fragile ecosystem by providing an economically-viable and sustainable solution for electricity generation.”

Shi adds: "As we approach grid parity, we're seeing a groundswell of appetite for multi-megawatt projects in Asia and emerging markets around the world. I'm confident that China will really turn some heads this year and perhaps even become a gigawatt market."