Spain to again host solar cell manufacturing

The production unit of Spain’s five-year idled solar cell maker, Cel Celis has been acquired by Bashmor Engineering. The new investor plans to restart manufacturing activities at the factory in Bembimbre, and to double capacity to 70 MW within a year.

March 20, 2018 Emiliano Bellini

Cel Celis' manufacturing facility in Bembimbre, León, northern Spain.

Image: Bashmor Engineering

Madrid-based Bashmor Engineering S.L. has acquired the production assets of Spanish solar cell manufacturer, Cel Celis in a public auction that was held on March 15.

In a statement to pv magazine, Bashmor’s managing director, Pubash Yazdani said the company had offered to buy the manufacturing unit for €3.3 million and to invest another €2 million to restart operations. The transaction was financially backed by Spanish financial services providers, Banco Santander and Abanca.

“We aim at restarting manufacturing activities at the existing facility in Membimbre, and to double the factory’s capacity from 35 MW to around 70 MW within a year,” Yazdani explained. “Modules produced at the facility will be distributed mainly in Europe and Middle East.”

Over the next two months, a review and upgrade of the production line will be conducted, Yazdani added. Around 40 people are expected to be employed at the factory.

Cel Celis’s manufacturing facility, which is located in the industrial area of San Román de Bembibre, in the town of Bembimbre, in the Spanish northern province of León, was halted in 2012, following the crisis of the Spanish solar manufacturing industry on the back of the global slow-down of the solar sector, as well as the moratorium for solar incentives in Spain, which led to a paralysis of the PV sector over the following five years.

Later in July 2013, Cel Celis filed for insolvency with a debt of around €20 million at the commercial tribunal of León.

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