Mar 6 2010
Showa Shell Solar, a Japanese company engaged in the production of copper-indium-selenium (CIS) photovoltaic modules has established its first European office in Germany. The office is located in Munich and the company’s new investment plans in Germany is supported by Germany Trade & Invest. The company has also been renamed as Solar Frontier.
The company is scaling up its production capacity to reach global sales of 1 million kW by the year 2012 and the new office in Munich along with the new American office in California will play an important integral role to achieve this objective. With an additional plant commencing production in mid-2011, the production figures of the company is projected to be over ten times its present levels.
Shigeaki Kameda, CEO of Solar Frontier, said the company’s mandates for production and design aligns perfectly with German’s importance on ecological and economic criteria. Kameda further said that the company has three vital reasons to invest in Germany, the country’s priority on ecology, economy and its solar market size.
Solar Frontier’s investment in Germany will also help the company to have easy access to fast growing photovoltaic markets throughout Europe. According to current industry estimates, about 50% of the solar modules are installed in Germany.
Thin-film modules using copper, indium, and selenium materials instead of silicon are manufactured by Solar Frontier. The price of the ingredients is competitive when compared to silicon. By 2011, thin-film module’s efficiency level is expected to reach 14.2%. Bavaria’s economic development agency, Invest in Bavaria, and Germany Trade & Invest assisted Solar Frontier for the investments.
Source: http://www.solarfrontier.co