REC Group, the Norwegian clean energy developer, has announced that it will invest s$200 million in research and development (R&D), automation and a ramp up in production capacity at its solar headquarters in Singapore over the next three years.
The firm will steer that investment towards automation and production capacity ramp up at its Singapore facility, and this will fully convert all 1.3 GW of RECs solar modules capacity in Singapore to TwinPeak production.
An additional s$50 million is going towards solar R&D, with REC confirming today its R&D plans, outlined in its Research Innovation Enterprise (RIE) 2020 plan, and will include close collaboration with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS). Emphasis at the Singapore R&D facility will be placed on PV module development.
In terms of module and cell production, the Singapore fab has been running at full 1.3 GW capacity for the past year, and the company recently brought wafer and ingot production into the fold at the plant.
With such a strong commitment to cleantech innovation, Singapore is the ideal location for REC to channel new innovations and push the boundaries for solar solutions. We are very excited to share our roadmap for advancements in solar energy production as we dedicate resources for research and development into our game-changing TwinPeak solar panels, said REC CEO Steve O'Neil.
In terms of R&D, Prof. Armin Aberle, CEO, SERIS said: "Collaborations between university institutes and industry are very beneficial for growing the solar sector, especially when it comes to developing and commercialising new technologies. With REC on board to further the green agenda in Singapore and the region, we believe this will stimulate other companies to follow suit and enhance their R&D investments to address the issues of climate change and dwindling resources."
In its native Norway, REC is still assessing the financial viability of reopening its 900 MW Heroya ingot facility.
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.
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.