22 May 2012

CIGS PV firm Ascent Solar and Radiant ally with China railway design agency

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA, which manufactures lightweight thin-film photovoltaic modules based on copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) using flexible substrate materials, has entered into a three-way strategic joint development agreement with Chinese construction and real-estate conglomerate Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise Co Ltd and Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation (TSDI) of China. TSDI will promote the use of solar technology in China’s rapidly growing public railway infrastructure by installing Ascent Solar modules on existing and future railway stations in China.

Radiant has been responsible for installing the roofing component on multiple railway station projects throughout China and is well positioned to execute the PV retrofitting of existing railway stations, as well as new installations. The total volume of solar installation on China’s public infrastructure is projected to reach 800MW over the next five years.

TSDI (a subsidiary of the China Railway Group) is a large-scale comprehensive survey and design corporation that has been appointed to build a uniform technical platform for China’s national railway system. TSDI ranks among China’s top 100 firms in terms of overall strength, and has a Class-A Qualification certificate for Engineering Survey and Design from China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development. The organization has designed more than 50,000km of railways in China, including the country’s first high-speed railway and first heavy-haul railway. It also designed China’s first modern, large-scale multi-modal transport hub, the Beijing South Railway Station.

“China’s state-of-the-art railway system is one of the largest and fastest growing in the world,” says Winston Xu, founder of Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise and a board member of Ascent Solar. As Ascent’s strategic partner in East Asia and a leader in the metal roofing and façade industry in China, Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise will work closely with Ascent and TSDI to design, engineer and install the solar systems.

The partnership with TSDI will promote Ascent Solar’s technology in a high-profile sector of China's public infrastructure, says Ascent Solar’s president & CEO Victor Lee.

The three parties will begin system design and engineering development in the near term, with initial project installations beginning in 2013.

Tags: Ascent Solar CIGS

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