As part of its realignment strategy, the German manufacturer, which was recently taken over by Meyer Burger, has strengthened its focus on the single equipment business by turning away from cadmium telluride-based (CdTe) thin film module manufacturing.
CEO Dietmar Roth announced back in April that he believed the turnkey business was in decline. In an interview for the companys Annual Report 2010 he stated, "We have gone through a significant learning curve and we certainly made mistakes at some points. But in my opinion, the most important fact is that the market for turnkey production lines has changed fundamentally."
Roth & Rau has also sold a coating system for the deposition of cadmium sulphide and cadmium telluride absorber films to the unnamed investor, which has reportedly ordered an 80 megawatt CdTe production line. It will be delivered in the third quarter of 2012.
In a statement, the German manufacturer said, "Roth & Rau will subsequently accompany the project through the ramp-up stage and in its further technological development." It is scheduled for completion by mid-2013.
If all goes well with the pilot project, a further four coating systems will be supplied.
CEO Roth added that a key focus for the future will be on coating equipment. "Cadmium telluride coating represents the key component in the production of cadmium telluride solar modules. To date, we are the only company in the world to offer this equipment and are thus superbly positioned to benefit from growth in the cadmium telluride market," he said. "We have already agreed a long-term cooperation with the acquirer of CTF."
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.