Q Cells dedicates to three-year, EUR125m German R&D spend

• The Korean company has committed to buy solar advancement in Germany each time when the EU as well as member states are seriously trying to kick-start the Covid-19 recovery.

As Covid-19-hit governments around the world shuffle to keep financial investment and economic situations afloat, Korean PV manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells has made a EUR125 million dedication to German solar-- and taken the opportunity to add fuel to the fire of a continuous international licenses disagreement.

The firm-- which has its origins in former German cell manufacturer Q-Cells AG-- today introduced it will certainly invest EUR35 million per year for the following three years on r & d at its base in Thalheim, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. A further EUR20 million will be spent at the website for R&D devices and machinery during that time-- EUR10 countless it within 12 months.

The Thalheim website is where the German leader company developed its initial cell production line in 2001 as well as Hanwha Q Cells claimed the investment verified its commitment to European solar innovation amid the Covid-19 pandemic-- along with its faith in the worldwide patent system. The firm said the R&D effort would certainly be tailored in the direction of its next-generation Q.Antum solar cells and components.

Dedication

Thalheim-based Q Cells chief innovation policeman Daniel Jeong said: "Q Cells boasts of its abundant background of developmental advancements in solar innovation. With the financial investments that the company has now picked, we are laying the structures for the next cutting-edge development that Q Cells will certainly create in Germany as well as commercialize for the international solar markets."

Hanwha has actually been involved in a tangle of claims against opponents in Germany, Australia as well as the U.S. after claiming competitors infringed its trademarked cell passivation technology. Last month, the firm was backed by the Dusseldorf Regional Court in Germany, which agreed its trademarked technology had been infringed in the country by Chinese rivals JinkoSolar, Longi Solar and also REC.

Announcing the most up to date German R&D commitment, Jeong said: "Q Cells advertises and also deals with reasonable competition for the most ingenious solar technology. To this end, our business is infusing EUR35 million every year right into our R&D headquarters in Germany alone, to deliver even higher support to this vital component of Q Cells, which supports more than 200 highly qualified as well as technologically-oriented work.

Legal fits

" We can just preserve this level of financial investment when provided the legal guarantee and also the confidence that our modern technologies can not merely be duplicated with impunity, and that trademarked modern technologies will be properly secured by the law. We delight in that the Regional Court of Düsseldorf has actually just recently upheld our license infringement issue, locating that JinkoSolar GmbH, REC Solar EMEA GmbH, as well as Longi Solar Technologie GmbH unjustifiably incorporated Q Cells' copyrighted modern technology right into certain solar items of the particular brands. Such an acknowledgment strengthens our confidence that we can continue to establish the technical bar ever before greater and also keep our sustained financial investment on the research and development.

" Ultimately, photovoltaic or pv modern technology can just survive in competition with fossil fuels if the solar market can enhance it in good faith, and therefore create even more budget-friendly items presented right into a reasonable competitive environment. Lastly, this environment provides eco-friendly and economical advantages to end users in public."

Hanwha, however, shed a comparable claim versus Jinko, Longi and also REC in the U.S. last month, when the International Trade Commission claimed licenses had actually not been infringed. In June last year, Jinko and China state-owned REC sought for the patent insisted by Hanwha in the event to be declared invalid as well as in May this year it arised REC had submitted a license claim versus Hanwha in China in February, relating to REC's split-cell and junction box innovation. Both situations are yet to be settled.

A license case made by Hanwha against Jinko and also Longi in Australia was later broadened to consist of REC as well as suppliers Baywa re as well as Sol Distribution and has yet to be identified.