Fraunhofer ISE comes with the building of an up and down integrated 5 GW photovoltaic factory in Andalusia

• German Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is supporting the newly established company "Greenland Gigafactory" in its prep work to build a highly automated manufacturing facility for photovoltaic or pv products with a capacity of 5 GW in Spain.

The business is providing guidance from factory planning and technical assistance to the joint advancement of sophisticated cell modern technologies. The layout procedure will be sustained by German equipment and also plant manufacturer Bosch Rexroth AG.

In support of the German Engineering Federation (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e. V., VDMA), Fraunhofer ISE had actually prepared a study in 2019 that considered the competition of the European solar market. "Amongst the essential criteria that were identified is that reduced manufacturing prices for local/regional production in Europe can just be accomplished if a manufacturing facility with a suitable minimum size is introduced," the researchers stated. Another searching for of the research was that "provided today's manufacturing prices of less than 20 euro cents per watt-peak, the share of transport costs for modules as well as for subcomponents" is increasing and totals up to almost ten percent. "Local manufacturing close to the target market, along with constructing a neighborhood value chain, are vital for the earnings of European PV manufacturing and independence from imports."

The Spanish district of Andalusia and the city of Seville now want to establish a regional vertically incorporated photovoltaic production. The factory along the entire value chain from material to wafer as well as solar cell to solar module is to be constructed within the following 2 years in a free trade zone in the port of Seville.

For this objective, the firm "Greenland Gigafactory" was founded. The emphasis would certainly be on monocrystalline silicon wafers in M10 style for PERC solar cells, which would certainly be mounted in half- and also triple-cell modules of at least 540 W. "We will certainly likewise support Greenland in the ramp up and also technical advancement of the company," clarified Jochen Rentsch, head of division in the PV Production Technologies department at Fraunhofer ISE.