January 11, 2007

Ted Turner Launches DT Solar, Enters Renewables Market

Ted Turner is partnering with Branchburg, New Jersey-based Dome-Tech Solar to create DT Solar, a Turner renewable energy company. DT Solar will initially focus on providing on-site solar electric power systems for commercial and industrial clients, as well as developing larger, utility-scale solar power plants in the southwestern United States.”Our future depends on changing the way we use energy,” said Turner. “We’ve got to move away from fossil fuels and develop long-term energy solutions that work. Using clean energy technologies, such as solar power, is the right thing to do, and it represents a tremendous business opportunity.”

Turner’s move into renewables is not a big surprise. When Richard Branson made his $3 billion pledge last year, Turner called it a “brilliant move.”

“I’m looking to make investments in renewable clean energy myself,” Turner told The New York Times. Speaking about Virgin Airlines, Turner also said that Branson would ”probably make more money off of this than he would off the airlines themselves.”

Bruce Curtis, chief operating officer at Dome-Tech, said Turner would bring economic and political capital to the company, The LA Times reports. “He won’t be a passive partner,” Curtis said.

The new venture aims to be one of the biggest solar power system integrators in California. To that end, the company plans for immediate expansion into several U.S. markets, including California, where it will take advantage of the states $3 billion, ten-year program to increase the use of solar power in the state.

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