Nanosolar unwraps new Berlin factory

Low-cost solar specialist Nanosolar has announced that its European panel-assembly factory is now fully operational and capable of producing one panel every ten seconds.

Announced in a blog posting on Wednesday, Nanosolar said the fully-automated factory located in Luckenwalde near Berlin would help it meet current orders for its panels totaling around $4.1bn.

"Getting to the point of serial production with the unusual cost reduction involved in our technology is an accomplishment due to the incredible work and perseverance of our team," said Nanosolar chief executive Martin Roscheisen.

Nanosolar's technology is based on the concept of applying printing processes to solar panel production.

"The Holy Grail of solar cost and capital efficiency has long been unlocking the key to how one could deposit a thin film of a semiconductor – 100x thinner than a silicon wafer – using a printing process – 100x faster than conventional high-vacuum deposition – and create an efficient, durable solar cell," it said in a statement.

In June last year, Nanosolar debuted its solar cell printing press, which it claims represents the industry's first production tool capable of producing up to one gigawatt of solar cells each year.

Advocates of Nanosolar's printing technology, claim that the approach coupled with the fact that its copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cells do not require expensive silicon mean that the technology represents the best chance of solar panels attaining cost parity with grid energy over the next few years.

Nanosolar also claims the lightweight and flexible nature of thin film cells provide them with the ability to be deployed in a wide range of different environments, allowing designers to more readily integrate panels into buildings, mobile devices and even textiles.