This industrial site will be located in Torgau, Germany, where the company has already established itself through Saint-Gobain Glass, Saint-Gobain Sekurit (automotive glass) and Avancis (PV modules). This new plant will be Avancis’ second German facility manufacturing thin-film CIGS (Copper – Indium – Gallium – Selenide) PV panels.
The new Avancis plant will have a production output of 100MWp/year, capable of supplying year after year the electricity needs for cities of 15,000 inhabitants. With a surface area of 25,000sqm, the site is expected to come on stream by the first quarter of 2012.
The company said that the technology based on depositing a coating of CIGS on a glass substrate offers a way to avoid traditional crystalline silicon and achieve higher conversion efficiencies than other thin-film technologies (above 12% industrially and up to 20% in the laboratory).
The company added that it is also efficient at lower light levels, and offers competitive advantages in terms of manufacturing costs.
Jean Floris, president of materials sector and senior-vice president of Saint-Gobain, said: “This project marks a new milestone in Saint-Gobain’s commitment to the renewable energy sector. With this plant, Saint-Gobain will boost the industrial development of Avancis and help it become a major reference in the field of high-efficiency thin-film PV modules.”
