Saint-Gobain to Build Second Plant to Produce High-Efficiency PV Modules in Germany

As part of its solar power growth strategy, Saint-Gobain has announced that its subsidiary Avancis, will be building a new plant to produce photovoltaic (PV) modules to cover the roofs of residential, industrial and commercial buildings as well as solar plants. This industrial site will be located in Torgau, Germany, where the Group is already present through Saint-Gobain Glass (flat glass and coated glass), Saint-Gobain Sekurit (automotive glass) and Avancis (PV modules).

This new plant will be Avancis’ second German facility manufacturing thin-film CIGS (copper – indium – gallium – selenide) photovoltaic panels. It will be built close to the first Avancis industrial site. The new Avancis plant will have a production output of 100 MWp/year, capable of supplying year after year the electricity needs for cities of 15,000 inhabitants.

AVANCIS commissioned its first plant in Torgau in October 2008 and currently employs 150 people at this site alone. A further 50-strong team in the fields of research and development and plant planning is based in Munich. Next to the existing plant, the new building will be constructed on a 25,000 m² site in the first quarter of 2012. This plant will be used to produce the company’s third product generation of solar modules, a further product development based on the already well-established PowerMax module series.

The innovative technology based on depositing a coating of CIGS on a glass substrate offers a way to avoid traditional crystalline silicon and achieve higher conversion efficiencies than other thin-film technologies (above 12% industrially and up to 20% in the laboratory).

“This project marks a new milestone in Saint-Gobain’s commitment to the renewable energy sector. With this plant, Saint-Gobain will boost the industrial development of Avancis and help it become a major reference in the field of high-efficiency thin-film PV modules,” explained Jean-Pierre Floris, president of the Innovative Materials Sector and senior vice president of Saint-Gobain.