Romania’s first module factory

Spanish PV equipment provider Mondragon Assembly will provide Romania-based Karpat Solar with a 100 MW solar module production line that the company will use to set up a factory in Transylvania, in the central part of Romania.

Mondragon said the line will be the first of a series at the factory, where Karpat Solar is planning to begin manufacturing activity before the summer. “This will allow us to tackle the Romanian market in autumn 2021, in this first phase,” said the manufacturer’s CEO, Csomor Karoly.

Modules produced at the facility should initially be sold in the domestic market, and in the European Union at a later stage. More details on the module technology used for production were not provided.

According to Igor Herrarte, international sales manager of Mondragon Assembly, the Romanian factory is part of a new wave of module manufacturing projects in Europe. “They will be projects of different natures, both in size and in the manufactured product,” he stated. “We also foresee a technological diversification as, in addition to the standard modules, we are going to see that companies launch modules for HJT (heterojunction), BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics) technology, and other niche products suited to European demand.”

Indeed, the Swiss company Meyer Burger Technology recently stated that it is on track to successfully complete its transformation from a supplier of photovoltaic production equipment into a manufacturer of modules and cells. Furthermore, Norway’s, Chinese-owned REC announced in late 2020 that it will build a 4GW HJT module factory in France, with work being expected to begin in June 2021.