Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

Sanyo opens Hungarian solar module facility

Sanyo’s Hungarian subsidiary has officially opened its new 150 megawatt (MW) solar module production facility in Hungary. Around 300 jobs have been created.

Sanyo's new HIT solar module facility is located in Dorog, Hungary. Image: Wikipedia/Szajci.

The opening ceremony was held at the facility today, in Dorog City. The third such Sanyo Hungary production line, it was established to increase the production capacity of its parent company’s HIT solar modules.

With the new line, which is spread across an area of 14,000 square meters, the Hungarian subsidy has almost doubled its annual production of modules, from 165 MW to 315 MW. Consequently, Sanyo’s worldwide annual module production capacity now sits at 680 MW.

A total of around 19 million was invested into the facility; roughly €3 million (approximately 900 million Forint) came from the government of Hungary in the form of a subsidy.

In a statement, Sanyo Hungary says it is aiming to provide a stable and just-in-time product supply to the European market. It adds that the latest production equipment has been installed at the new facility.

Back in December, Sanyo announced that it had achieved the world’s highest cell conversion efficiency at 21.6 percent. As a result, the company stated that its new HIT N Series 240W crystalline-based PV module  also achieved the greatest efficiency of any other module on the market, at 19 percent.