8 June 2012

Calyxo raising annual capacity from 25MW to 85MW

Cadmium telluride (CdTe)-based thin-film photovoltaic module maker Calyxo GmbH of Bitterfeld/Wolfen-Thalheim, Germany is investing in a second production line with annual capacity of 60MW. The firm has operated a 25MWp production line with more than 150 staff in Bitterfeld/Wolfen-Thalheim (known as Solar Valley in Saxony-Anhalt) since 2009, and will ramp total capacity to 85MW by the end of 2012.

Capital for the expansion will be provided by a bank loan and cash contributions from the technology inventor Solar Fields LLC of Toledo, OH, USA, which took over ownership of Calyxo in February 2011 from their former partner Q-Cells SE (which founded Calyxo in 2005). Solar Fields invented the technology while resident at the University of Toledo Incubation Center.

“Based on recent good results in production with modules of 80Wp and higher, we decided to increase the capacity of our low-cost atmospheric deposition process,” says CEO Dr Florian Holzapfel. “We are confident, that Calyxo will reach costs clearly below $0.8/Wp by the end of 2012 and that CdTe production in the core of Europe will make sense for for customers”, he adds.

The production line will manufacture the firm’s CX3 product (introduced in 2011), which was designed especially for hot and humid environments and is differentiated significantly from competing CdTe offerings, the firm claims, ensuring stable, long-term output even under extreme conditions. Under these conditions, due to the superior temperature behaviour of its modules, installation of the same rated capacity (in MWp or kWp) using Calyxo technology can provide up to 10% more energy than crystalline installations, claims the firm. "Recently we have published data showing the excellent performance and stability of the Calyxo product under hot and humid conditions based on our unique laminate design" says chief technical officer Michael Bauer.

The firm expects that these advances will lead to mid-term production costs of less than $0.50/Wp, which may be the lowest in the world, it reckons. Costs this low allow for an LCOE (levelized cost of energy) forecast of less than $0.10/kWh for electricity generated by Calyxo PV systems, the firm adds.

Based on current market information (and following the announcement in April that rival CdTe PV module maker First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA will close its manufacturing operations in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany in fourth-quarter 2012), Calyxo reckons that it will be the only meaningful CdTe producer in Europe from 2013 onwards, offering products to a wide range of customers (from small installers to large Megawatt installations). Besides the anticipated growth, Calyxo aims to maintain a complete set of services for all customers (simulation, project design, planning, installation and after-sales service).

Tags: Calyxo CdTe CdTe PV cell

Visit: www.calyxo.com