Suniva adds module capacity to US facility

Monocrystalline silicon solar cell specialist, Suniva is adding 25-30MW of module production to its Norcross, Georgia plant, which already has a capacity of 170MW for its ‘ARTisun Select’ solar cells. The expansion is scheduled to be completed in late August and operational in September, 2011, according to the company.

Suniva recently highlighted that its next generation ‘Optimus’ solar modules were certified and in production with conversion efficiencies of more than 16% at the module level, which equates to producing 260 watts of power in a 60 cell module format.

“Suniva's high-efficiency modules already contain more than 80 percent U.S. content using our U.S. produced cells,” remarked, Greg Mihalik, vice president of manufacturing and operations for Suniva. “Though Suniva already has one of the highest percentages of U.S. content in the industry, this expansion provides the ability for Suniva to offer even greater value for customers that require ‘Buy America’ compliant products.”

Suniva believes that this end-to-end R&D, manufacturing and testing capability provided a faster time-to-market and technological advantage.