Trina Solar, the Chinese vertically integrated Tier-1 solar company, has announced today the acquisition of a 200 MW solar cell manufacturing facility in Heerlen, the Netherlands.
Trina Solars wholly owned subsidiary Trina Solar Netherlands has purchased all of the assets from Solland Solar, including the acquisition of all machinery, equipment, stocks, office inventory and real estate.
Over the coming weeks, Trina Solar will begin operations at the facility, the company confirmed. Earlier this month, Trina Solar exited the EU's Minimum Import Price (MIP) undertaking, stressing to its customers that it will continue to serve the EU via its overseas manufacturing facilities. The acquisition of a cell fab within the EU will facilitate this process and ensure Trina is able to circumvent some of the duties levied on its European customers.
"This investment will be one of the components of our ongoing global expansion strategy," said Trina Solar CEO and chairman Jifan Gao. "In particular, this new cell facility in Europe, along with our in-house manufacturing capacity in Thailand and other overseas capacities allows us to leverage our global resources so that we can further expand our presence and enhance our competitive edge in overseas markets, especially in the U.S. and Europe."
Gao added that Trina Solar was excited to establish a base in the growing Netherlands PV market, remarking that the company hopes to create further job opportunities for the local area.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has forecast the Netherlands solar market to grow by approximately 480 MW this year, building upon a strong 2015 when the market added 438 MW of new PV capacity.
Last week BNEF also named Trina Solar as the world's most bankable PV maker.
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