One of the earliest of potential customers of Applied Materials ‘SunFab’ thin film production lines, looks close to securing the necessary funding that would see it establish the first of three planned production facilities. Genesis Solar, a subsidiary of Genesis Energy Investment Plc has recently announced that it has a Letter of Intent from an unidentified U.S. investor to inject US$42 million into its Spanish subsidiary, Genesis Solar España S.L., which has a partially completed production facility designed to house Applied’s ‘SunFab’ thin film line in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz, Spain.
The US$42 million investment is contingent on an approved equity swap, whereby Genesis Energy Investment PLC acquires a stake in the US company in return for 100 percent of its Spanish subsidiary. A board meeting will discuss the arrangements in April, 2009.
Genesis Solar had previously secured regional subsidies in Spain and Hungary to build and operate thin film PV production facilities and had future plans to establish manufacturing in Singapore.
However, the thin film start-up said it had been caught-up in the financial crisis due to certain assets of a significant value it held, that proved difficult to obtain release from third parties, causing delays to the production plans.
