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The cooperative business enterprise between Shell and Saint-Gobain, AVANCIS, has begun manufacturing CIS thin-film solar modules, marking its first production day with a ceremony at its new plant in Torgau, Saxony, which was filled with guests from the business and political worlds.

Hartmut Fischer, CEO of AVANCIS, commented at the event, “Our new production site at Torgau is backed by many years of expertise gained from the 3MW CIS factory in Camarillo, California. Combined with the in-depth knowledge of the research and development team in Munich and Saint-Gobain’s experience in glass processing and production, the result is a product of the second CIS thin-film generation with a heavy snow load class and excellent energy yield.”

AVANCIS’s new plant was completed within 12 months with an annual capacity of 20MW and the CIS thin-film modules producing an efficiency level of 11 percent. 85 new jobs were created at the new Torgau production site with another 45 hoping to be added in 2009. The research and development sector of the company is in Munich, Germany, which employs another 30 staff members.