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Signet Solar
Signet Solar, Inc. is a global company established in 2006 to bring Clean Affordable Renewable Energy™ to people and countries worldwide. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company has been founded to design, develop, manufacture and market thin film silicon photovoltaic modules.
Signet Solar fabricated the industry's first ever Gen 8.5 (5.7 m2 ) silicon thin film solar PV module in May of 2008 at its new factory near Dresden, Germany in a record setting ten months from the start of construction. Signet Solar will ramp up production in Q3 of 2008 and customer shipments are expected in October of 2008. This model manufacturing line will be replicated globally to expand capacity.
News about this company
Top stories 2008: Fab and Facilities—Q-Cells leads the pack
Looking back over the year these are the stories that have made the headlines and been viewed the most by the audience at PV-Tech in the Fab and Facilities section. Take a look at the biggest stories involving Q-Cells, SunPower, Masdar, Applied Materials, Arise and Signet Solar.
Signet Solar’s Mochau, Germany facility ships initial customer orders for thin-film modules
Signet Solar has produced and shipped its first MW of panels from its Mochau, Germany manufacturing facility only one month after it became the first licensee of Applied Material’s SunFab thin-film modules. The first shipments are being sent to Hannover-based alfsolar Vertriebsgesellschaft GmbH. Other Signet customers include Phoenix Solar AG, Soleg GmbH, Goldbeck Solar GmbH and SolarMarkt AG.
Signet Solar now ramping to capacity
Signet Solar has received Final Acceptance Test (FAT) certification from SGS Germany GmbH of its ‘SunFab’ thin film production line at its manufacturing facility in Mochau, Germany. This now enables the company to fast-track its ramp of the facility to 20MW. Signet Solar has plans for a further expansion to 130MW by the end of 2009. The FAT certification is the first for Applied Materials ‘SunFab’ technology.
Signet Solar locates 300MW thin film PV plant in Chennai, India
Signet Solar has committed to building its second large substrate thin film photovoltaic plant in the Sriperembudur Special Economic Zone near Chennai, India. Construction is expected to start later in 2008 on a 300MW facility at an initial estimated cost of $500 million.
Signet Solar selects Air Products for turnkey gas needs at Mochau, Germany plant
Signet Solar has selected Air Products to supply turnkey installation of gas delivery systems and services and related gas needs for a new, thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module production facility located in Mochau, Germany. The new plant will be on stream in the summer of 2008 and marks Air Products' entry into the thin-film photovoltaic industry.
Signet Solar plans $2 billion 10-year expansion in India
Thin-film silicon solar photovoltaic module manufacturer Signet Solar has announced plans to ultimately produce 1 gigawatt (GW) in annual production of solar modules over the next ten years at a new plant to be built in India at an estimated final cost of approximately $2 billion U.S. dollars.
Applied Materials grabs turnkey solar order from start-up Signet Solar
Applied Materials has won a turnkey fully integrated thin film silicon solar PV module production line order using large glass substrates. The start-up, Signet Solar, plans a solar module manufacturing plant in Dresden, Germany, targeting grid parity by 2010.
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Large area thin-film modules approach scale manufacturing with Applied Materials and Signet Solar
The increasing cost of conventional energy and the rising carbon levels in the atmosphere have re-focused the energy agenda on to alternative energy sources. We make no secret at Photovoltaics International that we believe that PV offers the best opportunity to mitigate climate change and increase global renewable energy production dramatically over the next five years. If the PV manufacturing industry can achieve scale production, then the effect on system and operating costs will substantially lower the cost of energy.
