BETASOL is a Spanish company located in a prime area of Spain for solar deployments. Its business is building utility grade solar farm installations and their subsequent sale to investor groups. Solar farms are a collection of solar panels mounted on trackers that convert solar energy into electricity.

The shipment of OPEL’s panels for the installation began in December, and the project is planned for completion in the first quarter of 2009.  

“This deployment of 440 kW of HCPV panels is one of the first significant installations in the HCPV marketplace and is an important milestone for OPEL,” said Robert Pico, CEO of OPEL International. “We are excited about our new and expanding relationship with our partner, BETASOL, and look forward to reporting on our progress with this leading solar technology in the near future.”

“We at BETASOL are very pleased to be in partnership with OPEL, one of the leading HCPV suppliers in the world,” said Jesus Cabetas, Managing Director of BETASOL. “OPEL’s greatly improved panel efficiency allows attractive rates of returns on our Spanish solar projects.”

OPEL is supplying this project with its original design Mk-I high concentration panels (HCPVs) to be mounted on a tracker system.  These panels are a highly cost effective solution and complement the recently-announced changes in Spain’s feed-in tariff structure. The deployment of OPEL’s energy efficient panels is expected to result in a favorable operating return for the project. 

“Mk-I HCPV panel design uses cost effective materials and concentrates light from the sun more than 500 times,” Pico added. “This product has conversion efficiency up to twice that of silicon solar panels and more than three times that of thin film solar panels making it an optimum solution for solar grid field installations.”

OPEL will continue its work with additional Spanish partners on solar farm field projects in other locations in Spain in 2009.

A leader in gallium arsenide and solar photovoltaic technology, OPEL has been awarded 31 patents and has 15 more patents pending. OPEL’s common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “OPL”. For more information about OPEL, please visit the Company’s website at www.opelinc.com.

Dated: January 14, 2009

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS     

Michel Lafrance, Secretary

For further information:

Pat V. Agudow                                    Bill Blase, Cathy Loos or Stephanie Kuffner

Vice President, Administration              Media Relations

OPEL International Inc.                        W.T. Blase & Associates, Inc.

Tel: (203) 612-2366 Ext 2612              Tel: (212) 221-1079

Email: p.agudow@opelinc.com             Email: info@wtblase.com

The TSXV has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility
 for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.