Oerlikon commits to expanding solar business

OC Oerlikon Corporation’s CEO Dr. Uwe Krüger has committed to significantly growing its solar business instead of selling the business in the near-term. With a reorganization, headed by recently appointed Jeannine Sargent as CEO of Oerlikon Solar, the company will escalate production capacities, increase research and development activities and enter new business areas more quickly, with reports claiming that acquisitions would be made where necessary.

"The creation of a new solar segment establishes the right organizational environment to meet the vast demands of a rapidly growing solar market," said Dr. Uwe Krüger, Oerlikon’s CEO. "With the solar industry representing a multibillion Swiss Franc business opportunity for Oerlikon, we felt it vital to expand our current solar operations and investments worldwide."

Oerlikon Solar now plans to double production capacity at its plant in Truebbach, Switzerland and has established a 1 MWp pilot line.

"This new pilot line will allow us to train customer engineers under real conditions," said Detlev Koch-Ospelt, head of Solar Thin Film. "In addition we can conduct R&D and produce customer samples in a clean room environment. We will also install and use thin-film solar modules on the roof of our facility."

To support its expansion, Oerlikon Solar will be aggressively recruiting highly skilled individuals to join its rapidly growing solar team.

Newsletter

Preview Latest Subscribe
We won't share your details - promise!

Publications

  • Photovoltaics International 16th Edition

    Photovoltaics International 16th Edition

    This sixteenth edition of Photovoltaics International marks four years of production of the quarterly journal. As always, our focus is on efficiency and quality improvement and cost reduction in manufacturing. As 2012 rolls along, companies are falling by the wayside due to supply and demand issues, ASP declines and drastic governmental subsidy cuts. A clear picture of 2012 is offered through papers from the likes of TÜV Rheinland, Fraunhofer ISE, SEMI PV Group and EPIA, amongst others.

  • Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

    Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

    This digital interactive Lite sees Tom Cheyney follow Agua Caliente’s progress on becoming one of first truly utility-scale PV power farms, where 40–50MW (AC) will be commissioned by the end of the year. We also feature one of the world’s largest silicon thin-film PV power plants, Avenal; a report on warnings of the collapse of module prices from Solarbuzz and PI-Berlin presents tips on PV module testing. A print version of this edition will be distributed at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

  • Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2012 Production Annual

    Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2012 Production Annual

    Manufacturing the Solar Future 2012, the second in the Photovoltaics International PV Production Annual series, delivers the next installment of in-depth technical manufacturing information on PV production processes.

Partners

Acknowledgements

Solar Media