Midsummer Delivers DUO Machine To Russia

• Midsummer says it has completed the 1^st shipment of its DUO production machine to the Russian market
• It will be installed at a Saransk located fab in the Republic of Mordovia for which Rusnano is planning to have 10 MW annual production capacity
• Rusnano is targeting commercial construction and renovation segments in Russia and other Eurasian companies as end users for flexible solar panels produced at the fab

Swedish thin film solar PV technology company Midsummer has delivered the initial shipment of its DUO machine for the Russian Market. It will be installed in a fab with a planned annual production capacity of 10 MW in Saransk which will be run by the Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Center of the Republic of Mordovia and their partner integrated solar roof company Solartek.

Midsummer's DUO is a turnkey production system for flexible CIGS solar cells without cadmium. It is the 1^st machine delivered by the Swedish manufacturer under a framework agreement Midsummer entered with Russian government owned nanotechnology firm Rusnano in September 2019 to enable the latter to develop lightweight, flexible, non-silicon CIGS PV manufacturing within Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (see Midsummer To Help Rusnano With BIPV Technology).

In April 2020, Rusnano said the Mordovian capital of Saransk will become a centre for production of innovative solar panels that can be integrated into various materials used to cover roofs and building facades with the idea to convert any building into a small power station. Back then Rusnano said the deal with Midsummer will entail equipment cost between $3.5 million to $5.0 million.

"The main market for the planned output will be the commercial construction and renovation segments in Russia and other countries in the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan)," said Rusnano. "But entities in other countries further afield are also showing interest in promoting the solar cells and modules which the Saransk factory will produce."

Midsummer's CEO Sven Lindström said, "The corona pandemic has made it impossible to travel to Sweden from the countries and regions where our machine customers are located. This has caused difficulties for us to make acceptance-tests and install our already sold DUO machines. Thanks to a new procedure, that makes it possible to make final approvals through video link instead of on location in Järfälla, we have now been able to perform the acceptance-test and ship the machine to Russia."

The Russian Federation aims to have renewables account for close to 5% of the country's total electricity consumption by 2030.