centro­therm photo­vol­taics subsi­diary FHR Anlagenbau receives major order for CIGS thin film solar cell production systems

FHR Anla­gen­bau GmbH, a wholly-owned sub­si­di­ary of centro­therm photo­vol­ta­ics AG, has won a major order to sup­ply sev­eral roll-to-roll coat­ing sys­tems to Leipzig-based Sol­arion AG. FHR Anla­gen­bau is a lead­ing man­u­fac­turer of foil coat­ing sys­tems in the photo­vol­ta­ics area. The sys­tems will be shipped next year, and form a cent­ral com­pon­ent of a CIGS thin film solar cell pro­duc­tion sys­tem with an annual capa­city of 20 mega­watts (MW). The order is worth a double-digit amount in mil­lions of euros for FHR Anla­gen­bau, and will be entered in the order book as soon as cor­res­pond­ing pre­pay­ments have been made, in line with centro­therm photo­vol­ta­ics' com­pany policy. Sol­arion AG is plan­ning to expand pro­duc­tion to 180 MW at the Leipzig site together with stra­tegic investor Walsin Lihwa Cor­por­a­tion from Taiwan.

"CIGS tech­no­logy provides the highest effi­ciency poten­tial in the photo­vol­taic thin-film area”, explains Dr. Peter Fath, CTO of centro­therm photo­vol­ta­ics AG. The roll-to-roll pro­cess, where a plastic foil runs over a tape drive with sev­eral rolls, and is coated photo­vol­ta­ic­ally, also offers fur­ther advant­ages: "These flex­ible, light and unbreak­able cells are also par­tic­u­larly suited to large indus­trial roofs, and applic­a­tions such as the tex­tile, auto­mot­ive and aerospace indus­tries." He goes on to com­ment that thin film solar cells gen­er­ated using this roll-to-roll pro­ced­ure are unri­valled with regard to curved sur­faces.

FHR Anla­gen­bau GmbH and Sol­arion AG have already been jointly devel­op­ing tech­no­lo­gies and sys­tems to pro­duce extremely light and flex­ible CIGS thin film solar cells on plastic sub­strates since 2002. "The tre­mend­ous suc­cess of our many years of cooper­a­tion is reflec­ted in the fact that, with the fourth gen­er­a­tion of these foil coat­ing sys­tems, we are now tak­ing the step into the mass pro­duc­tion of flex­ible CIGS solar cells," was how Dr. Rein­hard Fend­ler, Man­aging Dir­ector of FHR Anla­gen­bau GmbH, expresses his pleas­ure at the devel­op­ment.