Following recent news that Holland’s Orange Solar will open a module factory aimed at “reviving” European PV manufacturing, BIPV specialist Onyx Solar will begin work on a factory in Spain.
Onyx Solar makes BIPV (building integrated photovoltaics) products and projects that have included what is apparently the world’s first “walkable” PV floor, installed at George Washington University in the US. Its other products include coloured, semi-transparent photovoltaic glass and other PV materials that can replace conventional building materials in the design and construction of buildings or outdoor furniture.
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The company said it will build the new factory at its existing headquarters in Avila, Spain. Set on an industrial district, the initial production line will only cover around 8,000 metres squared of floor space. However, Onyx claims the facility can be ramped up to 140,000 metres squared, with the company aiming to hit this level of production within an unspecified time frame. The company did not give an indication of planned production capacities, but to give an idea of context, Solar Frontier’s recently completed 150MW thin-film production plant in Tohoku, Japan, covers around 70,000 metres squared.
European PV manufacturing has diminished in recent years given the stagnation of the end market there and stiff competition from China and elsewhere prior to the resolution of EU-China anti-dumping disputes. There have been stark warnings and calls-to-arms by a number of high profile names in the European industry.
Onyx, like Orange Solar, appears to be attempting to buck this trend by invigorating manufacturing on a relatively small scale via niche applications. Orange Solar’s initial 15MW product line that was announced in the middle of this month will be making flexible PV modules. There has been an attempted renaissance in conventional PV manufacturing to some extent as well, with Aleo Solar restarting production at its factory in Prenzlau, Germany last year.
