Thin-film manufacturer, Avancis, recently celebrated the conclusion of its second Copper Indium Selenide (CIGS) photovoltaic factory in Torgau, Saxony, Germany, to increase its current annual producti…
Thin-film manufacturer, Avancis, recently celebrated the conclusion of its second Copper Indium Selenide (CIGS) photovoltaic factory in Torgau, Saxony, Germany, to increase its current annual production capacity of 20 MWp to 120 MWp. Our CIS thin-film technology is a relatively new manufacturing method which is already quite successful and still has plenty of additional potential to reduce costs and improve the conversion efficiency, said Hartmut Fischer, the German company“s CEO. The 100-megawatt factory being established here is the starting shot for the industrial mass-production of our solar modules. Production at the new plant, which will have an annual output of 850,000 solar modules, is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2012, and is expected to create 200 direct jobs. Our own planning team designed the factory according to the most demanding of requirements and it meets state-of-the-art standards. It is the prototype for additional factories we will build worldwide with our parent company, Saint-Gobain, added Fischer. Together with the internationally successful corporation Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the company has already established a joint venture to produce CIS thin-film modules in South Korea. Construction work on a third factory, with an annual production capacity of 100 MWp, is scheduled to begin at the beginning of 2010.