Meyer Burger scores 200 MW bifacial HJT supply deal in Italy

It did not reveal the name of the company that ordered its in­dus­tri­alized HELiA plat­form, which is designed for the production of bi­fa­cial HJT solar cells. However, it appears likely that the Swiss PV technology provider will supply its HJT solar cell coating technology to Italian utility Enel SpA, as the Thun-based manufacturer said that it will install the equipment at a production facility in Catania, Italy.

Throughout the course of this year, Enel Green Power — a subsidiary of Enel SpA — has been revamping a solar factory it owns in the city of Catania, which is located on the island of Sicily. It plans to eventually manufacture HJT solar cells based on crystalline and amorphous silicon at the facility. However, the Rome-based power group has not yet responded to requests to confirm whether it placed the equipment order with Meyer Burger. 

“This marks an im­por­tant mile­stone for Meyer Burger’s in­dus­tri­alised HJT tech­nol­ogy, which is on its way to be­com­ing the next high-ef­f­i­cency cell tech­nol­ogy for bi­fa­cial solar mod­ules,” said Meyer Burger CEO Hans Brändle.

Meyer Burger will install the production lines and provide staff training on site, according to an online statement. It plans to start delivering the equipment in the middle of next year, with full production scheduled to start at some point in 2019.

The company also plans to set up a joint de­vel­op­ment venture with the unnamed customer in Catania. Together, they aim to achieve HJT cell ef­fi­cien­cies of more than 23%. At first, they will start production with con­ven­tional bus­bar cell con­nec­tion tech­nol­ogies, but they aim to eventually switch to Meyer Burger’s SmartWire Connection Technology (SWCT).

Meyer Burger recorded strong incoming orders of CHF 308.5 million in the first half of this year, up 15% year on year. Net sales hit CHF 212.3 million, down 2.5% from the preceding year.