Nano Solar agree 120MW solar production deal with Oerlikon Solar

18 August 2009

Russian high-tech firm Nano Solar Technology (NST) has ordered a 120MW end-to-end solar production line for from solar energy company Oerlikon Solar.

The deal expects to produce a capacity of one million solar modules per year making it the largest equipment order in thin film silicon photovoltaic (PV) market in 2009 to-date according to the company.

Oerlikon Solar’s Micromorph technology, which the company claims raises module efficiency by up to 50 percent over prior generation technologies, will be delivered in 2010 to the new site currently under construction in Novocheboksarsk.

Yaroslav Kuznetsov, CEO of NST, said, ‘Oerlikon Solar emerged from a thorough evaluation process to identify the best technology partner for our project, because of its leading technology. This is a win-win situation for all parties involved. Oerlikon Solar can establish a strong presence in the Russian market and the Russian economy has made another step as a state-of-the-art production site.‘

In addition to the planned production line from Oerlikon, NST plans to set up a major research centre that will focus on increasing the effectiveness of the solar modules in cooperation with the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Uwe Krueger, CEO of Oerlikon, said, ‘The contract confirms our leading edge technology and our unique ability to quickly implement and scale up commercially successful mass production of thin film solar modules. The 120MW Micromorph end-to-end production line will position NST as a key player among thin film PV manufacturers.‘

UK-based company EIS Optics has also agreed to acquire Oerlikon, a China-based producer of high volume coated optical components, from OC Oerlikon Corporation. EIS Optics is a company formed, for the purpose of acquisition, by the UK-based private equity firms Nova Capital Management Limited and FF&P Private Equity Limited.

In the transaction, all shares of Oerlikon and all relevant assets and employees in China, Liechtenstein, US, Japan, and Taiwan will be transferred to EIS Optics. The current transaction is expected to close in early September 2009.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: solar

This story was published on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 10:06 am and is filed under Europe, companies, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Nano Solar agree 120MW solar production deal with Oerlikon Solar”

1. Solar Book says:

   19 August 2009 at 3:35 pm

   This is very exciting news and – long term – will help drive down the cost of thin-film solar modules for smaller projects.

   Thin film solar is often looked down upon by many solar experts as being big, bulky and inefficient. However, thin-film technology is comparatively cheap, more environmentally friendly to manufacture and typically works better in overcast conditions. In the next five to ten years, thin film solar is likely to be the stronger technology in terms of practical applications.

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