25 August 2015

Sweden's Midsummer granted SEK10m loan from regional development agency Almi

Regional development agency Almi Företagspartner Stockholm Sörmland AB has granted a SEK10m ($1.18m) loan – part of which is guaranteed by the European Investment Fund (EIF) – to Midsummer AB of Järfälla, near Stockholm, Sweden, a supplier of turnkey production lines for manufacturing flexible copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. The purpose of the loan is to support Midsummer's focus on production and sales of its DUO manufacturing system, in particular to provide increased resources for R&D.  

"Our loan intends to provide opportunity for innovative companies to develop innovations and business ideas that provide growth and profitability," says Almi Företagspartner's financial advisor Fredrik Larsson.

"We sold a DUO system this spring to a foreign multi-national company, which is yet another proof of the market potential for our system," says Midsummer's CEO Sven Lindström. "The DUO is a compact, fully automated system for production of CIGS solar cells. It is designed for high productivity, operational stability and superior material utilization," he adds.

Midsummer says that an increasing number of manufacturers see the benefits of flexible thin-film solar cell technology as it can be easily integrated into buildings (BIPV) – a rapidly growing segment.

"Through the funding we hope to provide Midsummer with the opportunity to develop and pursue its commercialization," Larsson says. "It is hoped that Midsummer can become a model for other Swedish environmental technology companies." 

Midsummer has been named as one of Sweden's hottest technology companies and has repeatedly been featured on the list of the nation's fastest-growing technology companies. In particular, it was the fastest-growing cleantech company in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region in 2007-2011 (according to Deloitte's Fast 500).

Tags: CIGS Thin-film PV

Visit: www.almi.se

Visit: www.midsummer.se/duo.html