Applied Materials gains first Italian ‘SunFab’ customer

July 9, 2008
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

Applied Materials has announced that it has won its first customer in Italy for its ‘SunFab’ 5.7m2 turnkey thin-film line. The new customer is Moncada Energy Group s.r.l., a leading private Italian producer of renewable energy currently using wind farm technology. Moncada is expected to build a 40MW plant in Campofranco, Sicily.

“We believe that the large 5.7 square meter modules produced by the SunFab line will enable lower production and installation costs, making them an excellent solution for quickly achieving grid parity in Italy,” said Salvatore Moncada, CEO and founder of Moncada Energy Group. “Based on Applied’s strong leadership in manufacturing, and its capability to provide complete service support – which is unprecedented in today’s solar industry – we are confident that Applied can help us quickly start up our SunFab line and achieve production in 2010.”

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

“Applied Materials is very pleased to have the opportunity to work with Moncada on its first solar venture and we appreciate their confidence in our capabilities,” said Dr. Mark Pinto, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Applied’s Energy and Environmental Solutions Group. “We are excited to expand our role in Italy – which has the geographic potential to realize early grid parity – from supplying crystalline silicon equipment through our Baccini business to producing the world’s largest thin film modules with our SunFab line.”

The SunFab line will initially produce large 5.7m2 single junction PV modules and will be used for Moncada’s own energy projects.

Read Next

Premium
February 11, 2026
PV Talk: Wood Mackenzie’s Yana Hryshko argues that MENA is emerging as a solar manufacturing hub, driven, in part, by Chinese partnerships.
February 11, 2026
The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), previously known as the National Renewable Energy Lab, has laid off 134 employees.
February 11, 2026
China expects to add 180-240GW of new solar PV capacity in 2026, according to the latest figures from the CPIA.
February 11, 2026
India’s MNREA has released the fourth revision of its ALMM II for solar cells, increasing the total enlisted manufacturing capacity to 26GW. 
February 11, 2026
A round-up of a number of European project stories from this week, including METLEN, European Energy and TSE.
February 11, 2026
The UK government's Allocation round 7a (AR7a) of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction has awarded a record 4.9GW of solar PV.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
February 18, 2026
9am PST / 5pm GMT
Solar Media Events
March 24, 2026
Dallas, Texas
Solar Media Events
April 15, 2026
Milan, Italy
Solar Media Events
June 16, 2026
Napa, USA
Solar Media Events
October 13, 2026
San Francisco Bay Area, USA