Solar powerhouse SunPower Corporation has announced plans to build two 1-Megawatt photovoltaic solar power plants, slated for completion by August 2010, in Italy’s southern region of Puglia. The San Jose, California-based manufacturer will undertake the projects in partnership with Italian investment and management company K6 S.a.S., with the electricity generated by the plants feeding into local and national electric grids alike.

The two 1-MW solar plants are just the latest additions to SunPower’s activities in Italy, as it already operates a 24-MW solar power plant in Montalto di Castro. While Italy has yet to gain the level of attention Germany or the U.S. have in terms of solar infrastructure or policy, SunPower’s inroads may be the first of many to come: some experts predict that the Mediterranean peninsula nation may be the “first place where solar-generated electricity will not need subsidies to compete with electricity from fossil fuel,” thanks to its abundant sunshine and exorbitant energy rates. We’ll be keeping watch.