With plans to achieve 12% conversion efficiencies and ramp a new 90MWp thin film plant next year, Q-Cells SE has decided to increase its share ownership in copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) start-up Solibro GmbH. Q-Cells said that it would increase its share from 67.5% to 100%, issuing new Q-Cells shares to pay for the transaction. Solibro will then become a wholly owned subsidiary.
“The potential of Solibro’s thin-film modules lies in the combination of high efficiency ratings with extremely low costs per watt. After we successfully implemented this potential in mass production as well, Solibro became an integral component of Q-Cells’ thin-film strategy,” said Dr. Florian Holzapfel, member of the Executive Board of Q-Cells SE and Head of the New Technologies division.
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That potential was reiterated by Q-Cells with plans to see Solibro meet or exceed 12% conversion efficiencies by the end of 2010. Importantly, this is the expected same conversion efficiencies targeted by First Solar with its CdTe cells by the end of 2010.
“Taking this step is a sign of our confidence in the technology. This way, we have the degree of freedom we need to develop Solibro into a leading global provider of thin-film technologies,” added Dr. Johannes Segner, COO and Managing Director of Solibro GmbH.