Baoding Tianwei Starts Mass Production Of Thin Film Solar Panels With Oerlikon Solar Technology
Baoding Tianwei Solarfilms Co. Ltd. and Oerlikon Solar announced the completion of what they describe as one of the mainland China’s largest thin film solar panel factories. This first phase of the Tianwei project produces 500,000 modules per year, which generates a total of 46 megawatts of power. Tianwei is using Oerlikon Solar’s Amorph High Performance PV technology for Phase 1.
"Oerlikon Solar surpassed its promised completion time and efficiency," said Mr. Ma Wenxue, General Manager of Baoding Tianwei "Watching this state of-the-art fab go from an empty room to full production in six months was stunning."
Under the "Golden Sun" program announced on July 21, China’s Ministry of Finance will subsidize half of the construction costs for on-grid solar power plants. The ministry of finance will also pay for up to 70% of off-grid installations and cover transmission costs where necessary. In response, analysts have predicted that China could develop more than 500MW of solar power within three years. Just 50MW of solar power were installed in 2008.
"Oerlikon Solar has designed, tested and perfected its methodology for bringing new factories and equipment online on time and on budget," said Jeannine Sargent, CEO of Oerlikon Solar. "This is key in being the leader on the path to grid parity and placing clean renewable solar power on equal footing with traditional fossil fuel sources.
Oerlikon Solar staes that it has the first thin film silicon technology to have IEC certification from TÜV Rheinland for Amorph Basic, Amorph High Performance and Micromorph®. Certification compresses the time to production by reducing administration efforts and guaranteeing durability and performance. With more challenging credit markets, certification also makes Oerlikon Solar’s customers projects more predictable and bankable. TÜV certification for the Tianwei line is expected in September 2009.
