Chinese building materials and glass company CNBM is to buy German CIS thin-film manufacturer Avancis.
The sale, for an undisclosed sum, will see manufacturing at Avancis’ mothballed 100MW Fab 2 in Torgau, Germany, restarted after it was temporarily closed last year.
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CNBM said that with the acquisition of Avancis, the company was planning to expand its activity in the area of solar module development and production.
It said the further development of Avancis’ technology was an “essential prerequisite” for its plans to expand its PV generation business in Asia and Europe.
With this expansion in mind, CNBM said it intended to continue to operate Avancis’ Tech Center in Torgau, its research lab and Munich and “if possible” restart operations at Fab 2.
The temporary halt of manufacturing at Fab 2 last September followed the cessation of production at another of Avancis’ module plants a year ago and its subsequent conversion into an R&D facility.
“I am delighted that with CNBM International Corporation we have found a strong investor who will help us to further advance our CIS technology with its promising future,” said Avancis CTO Franz Karg. “Together with the recently achieved new efficiency world record for encapsulated thin-film modules, this is another important milestone for the successful growth of our company.”
Avancis said all its 240 employees would be given the opportunity to be taken over by the new company.
The company recently claimed a new record CIS cell conversion efficiency of 16.6%, a rate verified by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.