Concentrix Solar nears FLATCON Module volume production

Ramping new 25 MW (MegaWatt) production line in September 2008

Since Concentrix Concentrator PhotoVoltaic System achieves 23% Efficiency, Concentrix Solar GmbH announced the same High-efficiency FLATCON® technology enters industrial-scale production (Deutsch) last Friday, August 15, 2008. Concentrix is moving across the town of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, to a new 4000 square meter production and service space located in a portion of the former Spectral Lichttechnik building at the Auf der Haid industrial park.

Concentrix’s new factory will produce CPV (Concentrator PhotoVoltaic) FLATCON modules using an automated 25 MW production line leveraging two (2) years of experience operating their 1 MW pilot line. Concentrix claims “the infrastructure is already in place to step up production to 50 MW.” The new facility is expected to create 150 new jobs augmenting Concentrix’s fifty (50) or so employees.

With new production capacity in place, Concentrix is keen on expanding sales and will exhibit at the upcoming 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) in Valencia, Spain. Regarding the new production facility, CEO Hansjörg Lerchenmüller said:

It means we can at last meet the strong demand for our systems. High-efficiency concentrator photovoltaic systems will play a key role in the sunbelt because high efficiencies are a key to lowering costs. We are certainly well prepared for the future and can now additionally take on large power plant projects in the 1 to 10 MW range.

Per two German articles, Sonne gebündelt and Concentrix zieht auf die Haid, Concentrix turned down a 30 to 50% capital investment incentive from the German state of Saxony to move their mass production east. Concentrix cited their existing supplier network, partners (such as Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems), the attractiveness of Freiburg to future employees, and the immediate availability of the Spectral building as their rationale for staying put in Freiburg. Concentrix was said to be spending €2 million to alter the former Spectral building to suit their needs.

The CPV Consortium has a landing page for the Website Under Construction along with a CPV Consortium Membership Application for those interested in joining.