“These two achievements are very important milestones towards the launching of the company’s commercial operations” Dr Michael Goldsworthy, Silex CEO said. “It is particularly pleasing that the plant start-up and the production of initial solar panels for qualification have been accomplished on schedule and within budget. The team at the SOP plant are to be commended on such a fantastic effort over the last few months,” he added.
The qualification process is a standard testing procedure which, assuming success, typically takes around three months to complete. The end result will be certification of Silex Solar’s initial commercial product range of high performance solar panels under the IEC Standards protocol.
Once certified, the panels will then be sold in the solar market. Initially the company will focus on the residential and commercial rooftop markets in Australia, with initial sales expected to occur in the first quarter of calendar 2010.
As the production capacity at the SOP plant in Sydney is ramped up, the company will look to begin marketing solar panels and cells into overseas markets, particularly the burgeoning markets in Asia and the USA.
The SOP Plant is a solar cell manufacturing facility in the Southern
Hemisphere, with over 50MW of solar cell production and 10MW of module production capability under 24/7 operations.
With a modest capital expenditure, the plant is estimated to have the capacity to expand to approximately 200MW, and possibly more with improvements in solar cell efficiencies.
Initially the plant will operate at a much reduced capacity of 10MW ~ 15MW in 2010CY, potentially ramping up to between 65MW ~ 100MW in 2014CY, depending on market demand.
