Masdar getting into thin film solar business

With an eye to becoming a global leader in thin-film PV, Abu Dhabi-based Masdar today announced it's entering the business of making and selling thin-film photovoltaic solar products.

A new $2 billion committment from Masdar—one of the largest single investments made in solar to date, and the second multi-billion committment made to thin film solar in two days—is expected to fund a three-phased manufacturing and expansion strategy to produce the latest generation of thin-film modules, the company said today.

The move would pit Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government's umbrella group for all its renewable projects, directly against an already established and ever-expanding industry of thin film solar companies, which include Nanosolar, Miasole, HelioVolt, Global Solar Energy, Sharp, Ascent Solar, XsunX, DayStar, ECD Ovonics and almost too many others to count.

Previously, the company had appeared to be pursuing solar partnerships with established vendors (see Masdar, Sener in $1.2B solar thermal venture).

According to Masdar, phase one of the new PV project is to involve an investment of $600 million to fund the development of two manufacturing facilities; the first, in Erfurt, Germany is to be operational by Q3 2009, and a second facility in Abu Dhabi, planned to begin initial production by Q2 2010.

The company says the combined annual production capacity of these two sites is expected be 210 megawatts, which is being committed to unnamed "major PV system installers" in Europe and for Masdar's own energy generation needs.

"This marks a major milestone for Masdar and Abu Dhabi," said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar, in a statement.

"It will not only establish Masdar as a major global PV player, but will be the first high-tech semiconductor nano-manufacturing facility of its kind in the entire region."

Masdar says it chose Germany as the site for its first plant because Germany is "currently the center of the global PV industry" (ed.: despite the fact China-based Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP) now claims solar PV volume sales leadership, ahead of Japan's Sharp (OTC: SHCAY), the historic leading PV manufacturer).

Masdar intends the German plant to act as a reference for technology and knowledge transfer to the larger Abu Dhabi plant by a joint German-Abu Dhabi team.

At least one solar installer welcomed Masdar's move.

"Any way in which any country in the world is going to help create more cost effective solar technologies, that's terrific," said Barry Cinnamon, CEO of large U.S. installer Akeena Solar.

"The two biggest raw materials that you need are sand and electricity. And Abu Dhabi has both in adbundance. Money is money. It's all green. If it all goes to improve our world's energy situation, that's great."

Earlier this year, the oil rich United Arab Emirate state Abu Dhabi committed $15 billion for renewable energy, with the bulk of the money going toward projects within the emirate (see Abu Dhabi, the next cleantech hub?).

While Masdar did not specify if this $2 billion investment is coming from January’s commitment, the company noted it plans on using the latest generation of equipment capable of high-volume processing of ultra-large glass substrates, which it claims, at 5.7 m², are "eight times larger and five times more powerful than that of the current market leader."

The large format suggests it will be using manufacturing equipment from Applied Materials (see Solar startup Sunfilm to make thin film sandwiches).

Yesterday, German solar cell maker Q-Cells agreed to invest up to $3.5 billion in the mid- to long term to build a production complex for thin-film modules in Baja, Mexico.

The company said the move will help it achieve better access to American markets and hedge against currency fluctuations.