Norway's Innotech Solar on Wednesday launched construction of a $28 million solar cell processing plant in eastern Germany.
Innotech Solar managers laid the foundation stone for the firm's second European plant in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, in the presence of local and state politicians.
The company said the 75,000-square-foot plant will provide 80 new jobs and, after a later expansion, another 50 jobs.
Reiner Haseloff, minister for industry and labor of Saxony-Anhalt, lauded the investment decision as an "additional proof" for his state's "attractiveness as a location for photovoltaic companies."
Industry giant Q-Cells has its headquarters in Saxony-Anhalt and the region around Halle has developed into what observers have nicknamed the "Solar Valley," with subcontractors and solar technology research institutes at universities nearby.
"The fact that the district of Halle-Saale on the A14 highway has won the international competition against around 30 locations sets a clear signal," Haseloff added.
Innotech Solar said the plant will decontaminate up to 20,000 solar cells from various manufacturers, including well-known PV producers such as Q-Cells or Bosch Solar. The company's decontamination process minimizes the energy and raw materials used for the ensuing production of high-quality solar cells, raising the efficiency of the process.
Innotech Solar Chief Executive Officer Thor Christian Tuv said Halle was chosen as a new production location because of its infrastructure, the availability of state and municipal funding and trained personnel, as well as an established solar energy competence in the region.
Because of readily available infrastructure funding to boost economic growth in eastern Germany, Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt remain attractive locations for processing plants.
Experts forecast between 8 gigawatts and 10 GW of solar power capacity to be installed this year — the equivalent of roughly 10 large coal-fired power plants. In 2009, only 4 GW were installed.
However, the domestic market is set to shrink in the long run. The German government, worried about growing power prices and grid instability because of too much solar power, aims to slow the development by reducing subsidies for small- and large-scale PV plants.
Companies are looking elsewhere. Via its project development unit ETS Power, Innotech Solar, for example, is building large-scale solar power plants in France and Spain.
Based in Narvik, Norway, Innotech Solar is a solar technology company and an international supplier of PV modules with subsidiaries in Germany, China and Switzerland.
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