US headquartered thin film solar panel producer Sunflare is getting Swedish flexible CIGS solar PV production equipment maker Midsummer to install 2 systems for its mega factory in Nanjing in Eastern China. Midsummer will supply its turnkey production system DUO for flexible Copper-Indium-Galium-Selenide (CIGS) solar cells.
Sunflare's Nanjing fab has the capacity to hold 8 DUO machines, and 2 of such machines have already been installed by Midsummer. These 2 machines are currently operational, producing thin film solar cells. The 2 new machines will be numbered 3 and 4, to be followed by remaining 4 DUO machines in 2022.
The US based company's solar panel technology involves using high-quality stainless steel, layered with semiconductor materials with 1.7mm thickness, and is devoid of any silicon purification process.
"We are fully convinced that thin film solar cells of the type CIGS will be the leading technology for building integrated solar cells for various applications: roofs, facades, vehicles, etc.," said Sunflare CEO Philip Gao. Back in January 2019, Sunflare had placed the order with Midsummer (see Midsummer Bags $7 Million Order). The US company caters mainly to the California market and had said it plans to target rest of the US and Asia.
Sunflare along with its technology partner Midsummer had signed a framework agreement with Russia's Rusnano Group and its Fund or Infrastructure and Educational Programs, to promote light-weight flexible CIGS PV cells in Russia and other Eurasia nations as Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (see Midsummer To Help Rusnano With BIPV Technology).
Midsummer Q3/2021
In a related news from Midsummer, the Swedish company increased its annual order intake for Q3/2021 by 505%, and by 72% QoQ, amounting to SEK 23.2 million. Between January 2021 and September 2021, it sold solar cell roofs worth SEK 46 million, with order book mainly comprising SLIM, WAVE and BOLD models of the company.