Behind every solar module is a production story shaped by engineering choices, investment strategies, and market demand. In a new pv magazine series spotlighting PV manufacturing facilities worldwide, we examine how these factors come together on the factory floor. Here, we focus on Midsummer’s facility in Bari, Italy.
Midsummer, a thin-film solar specialist headquartered in Sweden, began considering an Italian operation as far back as 2021. The company appointed Jarno Montella to lead the project and acquired a 3,880 m² building, which became operational as a factory in 2024. Total investment in the facility amounted to €50 million ($59 million), including a €16.5 million grant from Italy’s national investment agency.
“Our Italian factory has a production capacity of up to 50 MW of copper, indium, gallium and selenide (CIGS) solar cells and modules per year,” Midsummer’s Head of Communications Peter Karaszi told pv magazine. “The factory is fully vertically integrated across the entire value chain – from raw materials to finished products – without relying on imports from China or Russia. All materials are sourced within the EU and other Western countries, making it the only large-scale EU facility with such independence.”
The factory produces two products: the Midsummer SLIM and Midsummer BOLD modules, both 2 mm thick. The SLIM module is designed for standing-seam metal roofs and is available in widths of 0.36 m or 0.52 m, with lengths ranging from 0.86 m to 5.9 m. The BOLD module is intended for low-load-bearing structures, including bitumen, PVC, TPO, and metal roofs. It comes in widths of 1 m or 1.3 m and lengths from 1.7 m to 6 m. Depending on the model, power output ranges between 114.5 W/m² and 127 W/m².
“From our Italian facility, we supply solar panels to countries across the EU and the US, where shipments must meet specific electrical testing requirements, supported by specialized equipment installed in our factory,” Karaszi said. “We also serve South American markets, particularly Colombia, where our mother company in Sweden is partnering with Saab to build a new factory. Until that facility becomes operational, we will continue providing the Colombian market with modules produced in Italy.”
The Bari plant is organized into two production lines: one for solar cells and the other for modules. The solar cell line is based on ten of the company’s DUO machines and proprietary sputtering tools developed by Midsummer. DUO, manufactured in Sweden, is a turnkey system with an annual CIGS production capacity of 5 MW. Metal substrates measuring 156mm × 156 mm are fed into the system and pass through 25 process chambers in a continuous vacuum chain. The process achieves a production rate of one solar cell every 20 seconds, enabling output of millions of cells annually.
The module line interconnects and laminates the cells produced by the DUO machines to form thin, lightweight, flexible solar modules. “Overall, the layout supports a streamlined production flow from cell deposition to final module assembly, enabling high-volume, flexible solar manufacturing,” concluded Karaszi.
In addition to the Bari facility, Midsummer operates a smaller 5 MW annual production line at its Stockholm headquarters. The company is also building a 200 MW factory in Flen, southeastern Sweden. Commissioning is expected to begin later this year, with full operation scheduled for 2028. “Our research and development (R&D) team focuses on further improving solar cell performance and developing new materials for modules in various colors,” added Karaszi.
Previous articles in pv magazine‘s new series on solar manufacturing facilities around the world covered United Solar's polysilicon factory in Oman and Belga Solar's module production facility in Belgium.
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