“Oerlikon Solar surpassed its promised completion time and efficiency,” said Ma Wenxue, general manager of Tianwei. “Watching this state of-the-art fab go from an empty room to full production in six months was stunning.”
Reaching production quickly is essential to allow Tianwei to address the rapidly growing Chinese solar market. Under the “Golden Sun” program announced on July 21, 2009 China’s Ministry of Finance will subsidize half of the construction costs for on-grid solar power plants. The ministry of finance will also pay for up to 70% of off-grid installations and cover transmission costs where necessary. In response, analysts have predicted that China could develop more than 500 MW of solar power within three years. Just 50 MW of solar power were installed in 2008.
“Oerlikon Solar has designed, tested and perfected its methodology for bringing new factories and equipment online on time and on budget,” said Jeannine Sargent, chief executive officer of Oerlikon Solar.”
TÃœV certification for the Tianwei line is expected in September 2009.
