Italian energy giant Enel that's building Europe's largest heterojunction (HJT) solar cell and module factory with 3 GW annual capacity, has placed an order for a combined PECVD-PVD cluster tool with Switzerland based Indeotec to deploy it in the company's new R&D lab in Catania.
Enel's renewable energy arm Enel Green Power (EGP) is expanding the company's existing Catania fab from 200 MW annual capacity to 3 GW and plans to conduct R&D activities on panels to develop a tandem structure to exceed 30% efficiency using bifacial panels (see Enel Green Power Unveils Heterojunction Solar Module).
Thin film deposition equipment manufacturer Indeotec said it will supply its Octopus II platform to Enel in Q2/2023, claiming that the tool will enable full processing of HJT solar cells with PECVD and PVD layers on a single platform.
Octopus II platform is equipped to provide thickness and opto-electronic features and wide process windows, which Indeotec says are necessary to reach the best-in-class efficiencies in HJT and tandem solar cell technologies.
"We are proud to have received the purchase order for our advanced Octopus II PECVD-PVD machine from Enel for their new laboratory and to support their future technologies developments to be deployed in the advanced manufacturing facilities of Enel 3Sun Gigafactory," said Indeotec CEO Dr Omid Shojaei.
The Swiss company says it uses proprietary technologies as PECVD-Mirror technology and ACCT enabling bifacial deposition without vacuum breakage, offering features as wafer flipping and manipulations.
It counts renowned labs across the globe where its equipment has been delivered, including CSEM and EPFL in Switzerland, Fraunhofer ISE and HZB in Germany, ANU in Australia, KAUST in Saudi Arabia, and SPIC in China, among others.
TaiyangNews explored the Indeotec technology in-depth in the 3rd edition of our Heterojunction Technology 2022 report in August 2022 that covers an overview on the most recent equipment developments in the field. The report is available for free download here.
With its European Solar Industry Alliance (ESIA), the European Commission is working on providing a framework for the region to reach 30 GW production capacity along the silicon solar value chain by 2025 to get less reliant on imports. After the severe supply chain issues experienced during the pandemic, and now confronted with China, the world's largest supplier of solar PV production equipment, contemplating an export ban on solar wafer production equipment, European solar stakeholders are increasingly worried on secure equipment and materials supply (see China To Curb Export Of Solar PV Technology Equipment?).
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