Sunshine Power

	History
	Sunshine Power was founded in 2009. In 2008 oil prices raised to unprecedented levels of over $ 150 / oz. Major scientists warned that over 80% of the oil fields are off-peak, i.e. additional oil can only be retrieved with over proportional efforts. Further it was pointed out that at current usage levels, global oil reserves would only last another 40 – 60 years. At the same time it became more and more evident that carbon gas emissions are the main cause of the global warming. In this environment the founders of Sunshine Power discussed ways to contribute to the protection of the environment and to conserve natural resources, which in some cases have taken millions of years to develop. They both are convinced that, given the shortage and negative impact, it is wrong to use oil and coal to produce energy. Hence the founders looked at various alternative energies and their ability to solve the above issues. Finally, they decided for solar energy as it has the following advantages over other sources of energy: Sun light / sun energy is the primary original energy source. Without sun there would be no oil, no coal, no electricity and … no human beings. Sunlight is abundantly available Sunlight is available “for free” like air, it doesn’t cost anything With modern solar technology it is possible to “extract” so much energy out of sunlight that households and communities even in less sunny areas of the globe (such as Germany) can produce enough electricity to become self-sustainable What finally convinced them was the fact that the cost of solar modules (which account for over 65% of the total cost of a solar installation) declined dramatically over the last 30 years. While in 1970 the production cost of 1 wp was higher than $ 70, this year the first company announced a production cost lower than 1$ / wp (First Solar Inc.). With such prices already now, a state called “grid price parity” can be reached in many countries with high sunshine levels. If grid price parity is reached it is possible to economically use solar panels to generate energy even withouth government subsidies. Given the expected further strong decline of module prices even in Germany we expect grid price parity by 2012 – 2015. Convinced by these facts the founders decided to enter into the solar business. They found that the most interesting countries to start with are Germany (strong environmental awareness of the German population) and Italy (strong sun shine and support by the government). They founded Sunshine Power Srl based in Naples and Sunshine Power UG based in Munich.