Madrid, 22nd March 2007: BP Solar today announced that it has begun constructing a mega cell plant at its European headquarters in Tres Cantos, Madrid. For phase 1 of the Madrid expansion, BP Solar is aiming to expand its annual cell capacity from 55 MW to around 300 MW. This follows the announcement on 21st March of the construction of a similar facility in Bangalore, India. The new cell lines use state-of-the-art screen printing technology, much of it proprietary to BP Solar. By fully automating wafer handling, the lines will be able to handle the very thinnest of wafers available and ensuring the highest possible quality. Construction of the new Madrid manufacturing facility is already underway, with the first line expected to be fully operational before the summer. Construction has also begun on lines two and three. In addition to the new manufacturing lines, the Tres Cantos site will be remodelled to include a new photovoltaic (PV) systems prototype area, a visitor training centre and product testing and development facilities. "The announcement of the two mega cell plants cements BP Solar's commitment to maintain a market leadership position in PV" said Lee Edwards, BP Solar's CEO. "The new cell technologies we are using, our intellectual property in casting with Mono2 and the contracts we have signed to secure preferential access to metallurgical grade silicon are all important steps towards our goal of offering customers PV-generated electricity on a par with the cost of conventional grid-supplied electricity." The Madrid mega cell plant will be one of the largest such facilities in Europe. Since the site was acquired by BP Solar in 2002, a tri-generation power plant has been built providing heat and power to the site. The facility is ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. BP Solar chose its Tres Cantos facility for one of its mega cell plants due to confidence in the growth projections of the European market. "We already have an established ma

Ethiopia's Yigrem Demelash brought the Kenyan dominance at the event to a halt today to grab the gold medal in style in a career best of 28:16.07. The Kenyan pair of Geoffrey Kipkorir Kirui and Philemon Kipchilis Cheboi had been hotly tipped as the main favourites but Demelash proved to be a master tactician and his arch-rivals Kenyans had to settle for the minor places on the podium on this occasion. The race opened quite conservatively as the lonesome early leader China's Binlu Wang went through the opening 1000m in 2:55.54 and a full 10-second margin over the rest of the 34 competitors. The Kenyan pair injected a lethal pace some 1500m into the race and only the Ethiopian duo and Uganda's Moses Martin Kurong were able to live with their pace. Kirui, who holds an impressive 26:55.73 to rank second on the all-time Junior lists, opened full gas after the second kilometre and an impressive 8:15 split for the following three kilometres led him lonesome at the front. Even before the halfway, Kirui began to lap the slowest contenders. The 5000m was reached in 14:14 with Kirui still leading but shortly after the sixth kilometre the Kenyan began to falter a bit to be caught by Cheboi and Demelash. It was Cheboi who took charge of the race then with respective splits of 2:48 for the seventh and eighth km; surprisingly, that kind of pace proved to be enough to leave Kirui behind while Demelash stayed comfortably at Cheboi's shoulder. The decisive moment came some three laps home when Cheboi was unable to maintain his own pace and was effortlessly passed by Demelash, who covered the penultimate 1000m section in 2:51.41. There were no remarkable changes in the closing laps with Demelash ruling at the bell some 40m ahead of Cheboi, himself another 30m clear of Kirui. In addition to Demelash PB of 28:16.07 Cheboi also produced a career best of 28:23.98 in second for Kirui's 28:30.47 in third. Demelash, who lapped every athlete from sixth onwards, is not entere