15 April 2011

Hyundai-Avancis breaks ground on CIGS PV plant in Korea

Hyundai-Avancis, a joint venture formed last October between South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd (HHI)and Saint-Gobain of Courbevoie, France (which designs, makes and distributes building materials and electronic materials), has held a ground-breaking ceremony for Korea’s largest copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar module plant.

Held in Ochang Foreign Investment Zone, Chungcheongbuk-do, the ceremony was attended by Saint-Gobain chairman & CEO Pierre-André de Chalendar, Hyundai Heavy chairman Min Keh-sik, and 250 government officials and business people.

Saint-Gobain, said to be the world leader in the habitat and construction markets, and ‘green’ energy provider Hyundai Heavy each invested KRW110bn in Hyundai-Avancis, bringing total investment in the joint venture to KRW220bn ($200m). Hyundai-Avancis plans to complete the 231,000m2 plant by January and start production from second-half 2012.

Starting with construction of this first 100MW CIGS solar module plant, using technology from Avancis GmbH of Torgau, Germany (a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain since autumn 2009), Hyundai-Avancis may expand annual production capacity to 400MW by 2015 after considering market conditions.

Hyundai Heavy, Korea’s biggest solar cell maker (with a 600MW solar cell and solar module factory at Eumseong, Chungcheongbuk-do), says that it is the only Korean firm with a complete solar power production chain. The new plant will also make Hyundai Heavy a manufacturer of a full range of solar power products such as polysilicon, ingot/wafer, solar cells, solar modules, and solar power systems. The firm aims to be one of the world’s top five CIGS solar module manufacturers by 2015.

With more than 190,000 employees in 64 countries, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures, and distributes building materials, providing solutions to meet growing demand for energy efficiency and environmental protection. In addition to its first 20MW facility in Torgau, the firm is currently building a second Avancis plant on the same site, with a future annual output of 100MW, to begin operation at the end of 2011.

Tags: Hyundai-Avancis CIGS

Visit: www.avancis.de/en

Visit: http://english.hhi.co.kr

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