FuturaSun joins the IBC4EU project

Share

The official kick-off meeting took place on November 23rd in Konstanz (Germany) and saw the participation of all project partners.

This is a 36-month project, with a total cost estimated to be approximately €17 million, out of which the EU has contributed €13.5 million, and coordinated by the renowned International Solar Energy Research Centre (ISC) of Konstanz, Germany. FuturaSun is one of the 21 partners participating in the project, bringing in its consolidated experience with the N-type IBC Zebra solution.

Through the contributions of all the partners involved, each with experience in different elements of the production chain (i.e., ingots, wafers, cells and modules), the project will succeed in demonstrating that the IBC technology is the most promising choice for launching photovoltaic production in the EU on a GW scale.

Cost-effective high-tech equipment will be developed to achieve this objective, based on eco-design approaches to eliminate indium, reduce carbon footprint and the need for scarce materials, like silver. As well as increasing resource efficiency and recyclability while improving in terms of potential circularity.

This project is based on existing production technology, which is an advantage. Therefore, IBC4EU project will focus on improving existing processing steps on already available equipment, on introducing new concepts to reduce proprietary costs, and on using Industry 4.0 solutions for predictive maintenance, quality control, and traceability.

The IBC4EU project will help experiment with vertical production integration to build a European supply chain and support continental energy transition strategies. FuturaSun is proud to be part of this high-profile project and happy to help with its consolidated experience.

Partner

Funded: ISC Konstanz (Germany), ProTech (Lithuania), Norsun AS (Norway), Energyra B.V. (Netherlands), FuturaSun srl (Italy), IMEC (Belgium), CEA INES (France), TNO (Netherlands), ISFH (Germany), Copprint Technologies Ltd (Israel), LuxChemTech GmBH (Germany), WIP (Germany), UAB Valoe Cells (Lithuania), Valoe Oyj (Finland), HighLine Technology GmbH (Germany), Kalyon PV (Turkey), Becquerel Institute (Belgium)

Associated: Centrotherm AG (Germany), LPKF Laser & Electronics AG (Germany), Toyo Aluminium K.K. (Japan), RENA Technologies GmbH (Germany)