SOLAR SEMICONDUCTOR, an international Solar PV company with offices in Sunnyvale, CA, USA and Hyderabad, India and P-ENERGY S.A.S., a world-class supplier of module manufacturing equipment of Italy are pleased to announce that they have entered into a contract for the purchase of a state of the art module manufacturing line. SOLAR SEMICONDUCTOR has acquired a highly automated Solar PV Module manufacturing line with an annual capacity of approximately 50MW, from P. ENERGY of Italy. SOLAR SEMICONDUCTOR also has an option to double the capacity with an additional line within a year of the installation of the first line. Aquarius International, the Indian representative of P.ENERGY has assisted in facilitating the successful negotiation and conclusion of this contract.

Venkat Kode, the Chief Operating Officer of SOLAR SEMICONDUCTOR commented- “We are building a solar PV module plant in Hyderabad, India to international standards.  We have procured a module manufacturing line that is designed to be flexible to address the varied and emerging needs of our world class customers. The line has the capability to handle standard as well as custom module designs, cells with thickness below 180 microns and even 3 bus-bar cells. In addition to crystalline PV modules, our plant can manufacture amorphous, BIPV and thin film modules also. This decision to purchase the automated module manufacturing line from P.ENERGY represents the first step in our plan to offer high quality and affordable solar solutions to the global market place. Solar Semiconductor will offer modules with international certifications for safety and performance”.
SSN Prasad, the Vice President of Worldwide Manufacturing commented- “Production of the Solar Modules should start in May 2007 with ramp up to full capacity by July 2007.  The factory is also putting ISO-9001 quality processes in place and should be certified as soon as it comes into production. The modules will be manufactured to exacting standards required by our customers worldwide”.
Gabriele Pettenuzzo, the President of P-ENERGY expressed - “P.ENERGY is very proud to start with this first venture in India. This module line will be the most automated PV module assembly line in Asia. In this line we’ll install 4 robots in different locations in the line - at lay up, trimming and framing stations. It is also the first time that we are providing a tabber and stringer with the capability of providing two or three bus bars".

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