TOKYO: Japan's Sharp Corp said on Monday it had formed a joint venture with Italian utility Enel and STMicroelectronics NV to make solar cells in Italy for sale in Europe and the Mediterranean area.

Sharp, the world's third-largest solar cell producer, said in a statement that production would begin in the second half of 2011 at an existing facility in Catania belonging to ST Micro.

The project had initially been slated to start production in early 2011, but a Sharp executive told Reuters in an interview last month that it had been delayed due to difficulties in raising finance.

The Catania thin-film solar cell plant will have an initial production capacity of 160 MW, scheduled to be raised to 480 MW in the future, Sharp said.

Sharp also said it had formed a separate joint venture with Enel to develop, build and operate solar power generation plants, using the cells produced at the Catania facility.