Q-Cells targets 100MW CIGS thin film shipments from Solibro in 2010
Continued overcapacity in the upstream supply chain that includes polysilicon, solar wafers and solar cells is resulting in continued price declines and uncertainty over 2010 market demand. As a result Q-Cells is planning to hold c-Si cell production at approximately 800MW in 2009 and grow nameplate capacity to 1.1GW in 2010, on provisional market expectations for next year. However, its CIGS thin film subsidiary is expected to increase nameplate capacity to 135MW and actually ship close to 100MW in 2010, signalling the maturity of the product and potential market penetration of the technology. Solibro was said to have shipped its first products to customers in the quarter. Q-Cells executive Anton Milner highlighted in a conference call to discuss third quarter results that Solibro was expected to generate a cost per watt of €0.80 cents by the end of 2010 with capacity of 135MW. This was expected to decrease to €0.70 cents by the end of 2011. Process optimization, yield enhancements an...