Leading Supplier of Micromorph Tandem Production Solutions to supply Taiwan’s Auria Solar Co. Ltd. with 60 MWp and Italian based PRAMAC SpA with 30 MWp Capacity Production Lines
Truebbach, Switzerland - December 21, 2007 - Oerlikon Solar, a leading global supplier of automated solar manufacturing solutions for mass production of solar modules, announced today that it has been awarded contracts with both Taiwan's Auria Solar Co. Ltd. with a 60 MWp and Italian's Pramac SpA with a 30 MWp thin-film solar module production lines. Together with these new contracts Oerlikon has added more than 650 Mio. CHF worth of solar equipment to its order books this year.
These state-of-the art production lines include Oerlikon Solar's innovative micromorph tandem technology that combines two different silicon materials - amorph and microcrystalline - boosting energy conversion efficiency levels by up to 50 percent compared to traditional amorphous single cells.
The agreement marks Oerlikon Solar's second major contract in Taiwan in 2007 and first contract in Italy/Switzerland. Exciting for Oerlikon Solar, is that the Italian based Pramac's manufacturing location will be in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. Oerlikon Solar's Swiss manufacturing technology will be producing for the first time in Switzerland. With the Auria Solar contract, Taiwan will exceed a total production capacity of 100 MWp.
"The orders from Auria Solar and Pramac SpA confirms our leadership in supplying cost-effective, fully automated production lines for thin-film solar modules. With these additional orders Oerlikon Solar has now exceeded all targets for 2007," said Jeannine Sargent, CEO Oerlikon Solar. "Continued customer adoption of our solar solutions demonstrate this market's growing confidence in our thin-film silicon solar technologies. The fact that no other manufacturer of solar module production equipment worldwide can match our state-of-the art technology will enable us to further extend our market share," said Dr. Uwe Krüger, CEO Oerlikon.
The advanced Oerlikon Solar production line enables the manufacture of thin-film silicon modules. This turnkey, end-to-end solution embraces the entire production process from glass cleaning and in-line inspection to testing of the finished solar modules. Another differentiating element is that Oerlikon Solar will provide its full-service package for commissioning the process equipment and securing production ramp-up as efficiently as possible. Both of these agreements also include the company's entire metrology system for quality control, the "back end" of module production and its proprietary process technology. Of critical importance are the Oerlikon Solar proprietary TCO layers that play a central role by trapping the light in the photovoltaic thin-film maximizing the conversion efficiency. These unique capabilities enhance the performance of the solar modules and directly reduce the cost per watt peak.
"There is a rapidly growing demand from our customers for solar modules. This requires innovative and proven technology, turnkey capabilities and customer service that will enable us to increase production as quickly and efficiently as possible," said Dr. Tsai, CEO Auria Solar. "Oerlikon Solar offers the strongest combination of these qualities and has consistently demonstrated that they are not only proven but as well have the capability to deliver systems on time."
"We made this important investment because we firmly believe in renewable energy - said Paolo Campinoti, Pramac's managing director - because it is still a very young market and will allow us great growth. The new technology we are offering will provide lower costs and higher yields than the traditional system. In our view, this is an important step in the direction of our company's natural development, and a further confirmation that we are keeping the promises we made at the time of the initial public offering", says Mr. Campinoti.
