Feb 18 2010
Bosch Solar Energy and Linde Nippon Sanso have decided to extend their collaboration at a new crystalline Si solar cell production facility owned by Bosch in Germany. Ammonia gas and silane will be supplied by Linde Nippon Sanso as per the new agreement. Both the materials are critical in the manufacture of high-efficiency photovoltaic cells produced by Bosch.
At present, Bosch has three manufacturing plants in the Erfurt/Arnstadt area that utilize both thin film silicon and crystalline technologies. When the production reaches full capacity, products manufactured utilizing crystalline technology will alone have a total capacity of 630 MWp, enabling the Erfurt/Arnstadt area to become an important “solar cluster” in Europe. The main supplier of gas technology for all the production lines is Linde.
Andreas Guenther, President Linde Nippon Sanso, said the company’s leadership in high-efficiency gases used for PV manufacturing and its capability to store these gases safely has helped the company to enhance its partnership with Bosch Solar Energy. The company is pleased to collaborate with Bosch and to help establish the Erfurt/Arnstadt area as Europe’s important PV production site.
The overall capacity in the Erfurt/Arnstadt “solar cluster” at present is more than 300MWp and is anticipated to reach 700MWp by 2012, thus matching the Thalheim “solar valley.”
Source: www.bosch-solarenergy.com