Meyer Burger opens up 400-MW solar cell plant in Germany

• Meyer Burger Technology AG (SWX: MBTN) opened up on Tuesday its brand-new 400-MW, first-phase solar cell manufacturing facility in Thalheim, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, with strategies to increase manufacturing in June.

The Swiss solar machinery producer, which is making its primary steps in the production of solar cells and modules, prepares to expand to an annual production ability of 5 GW by 2026.

The opening of the Thalheim website was attended by the state's prime minister, Reiner Haseloff, Saxony-Anhalt's priest for economics, scientific research and digitalisation, Armin Willingmann, and also the mayor of Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Armin Schenk.

The plant uses the company's very own Heterojunction/SmartWire technology and is capable of generating approximately 200,000 solar cells daily. These will be refined right into solar modules in Freiberg, where Meyer Burger intends to open its center on May 26 ahead of the start of module shipments in July. It relies upon a supply chain that is constructed "as locally as possible," with polysilicon originating from Europe.

Last month, the company presented three patent-protected item versions of its maiden solar module offering, namely the Meyer Burger White, Black and also Glass modules.