Swedish BIPV module manufacturer and CIGS turnkey equipment supplier Midsummer has begun work on its 50 MW manufacturing facility in Bari, in the southern Italian region of Apulia.
The company said the factory is being built with the support of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) and the Italian investment institution Invitalia, which is part of the Italian Ministry of Finance, which provided a €38 million low-interest loan for the project.
Overall, Midsummer expects to invest around €66 million in the new manufacturing facility. Production is expected to start next summer. Around 35% of the investment would be covered by the grants and 23% by the low-interest loans. The funds come from the economic stimulus program of the Italian government to rebuild the economy.
“We will increase our maximum production capacity tenfold and the factory will make Midsummer the largest manufacturer of thin-film solar cells in Europe,” said CEO Sven Lindström. So far the manufacturer, which, in addition to flexible thin-film modules also offers solar roof tiles, has a production facility in Järfälla, Sweden.
The factory will be equipped with the company's own DUO machines.
Midsummer says it has seen a 500% increase in incoming orders in the third quarter. The demand for its PV modules, which are just two millimeters thick and extremely light, at three kilograms per square meter, is claimed to be very strong in the Nordic countries. The products that will be produced in Bari in the future are primarily intended for customers in southern Europe, the manufacturer said.
The factory will be operated by the wholly-owned subsidiary Midsummer Italia.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
4 comments
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.