- Contract signed for 70 MW plant with the utility company of the San Juan Province, Argentina
- Expansion to upstream silicon production planned
- Christian Schmid presents gift certificate for vanadium redox flow battery of the latest technology
2013-10-03, San Juan, Argentina. The SCHMID Group announces after an intensive and detailed planning phase with the utility company of the Argentinean province of San Juan, Energia Provincial Sociedad del Estado ( EPSE ) the contract for the construction of a fully integrated factory for monocrystalline silicon ingot to module production. A second stage is planned for the extension to the upstream polysilicon production.
The main reason for the order of the Argentinean state-owned company to the German photovoltaic equipment provider SCHMID were especially its long experience in project management, process development , plant design, production and worldwide service.
SCHMID is general contractor to built the facility including infrastructure in the provincial capital San Juan and is going to supply advanced production equipment mainly from its own portfolio. The systems are optimized to produce high-efficiency solar cells at low cost of ownership.
Equipment highlights are, for example, the high-quality wafer -cleaning, which removes all organic residues and thus forms the basis for efficient cells, as well as the TinPad system , which lowers the cost of cell production by the use of tin instead of silver for the manufacture of rear side contacts and also improves cell performance. This equipment makes the San Juan factory the leading-edge integrated photovoltaic production in the whole American continent.
The facility has an annual capacity of 70 MW for glass/film modules that come into operation amongst others for the energy supply of the gold and copper mines as well as the irrigation systems in San Juan. In addition, the supply of the Argentinean market and other Mercosur countries is planned. So far, the power demand of, for example, San Juan mines in 4000m for 20,000 workers, machinery and infrastructure must be covered by diesel generators. Also the high power demand of the artificial irrigation in the extremely arid region (80 mm of precipitation per year) is going to be met with solar power in the future.
The province of San Juan has been a leader in photovoltaics in Argentina. Here the first grid- connected PV power plants in the country have been installed. The conditions are ideal, with an annual solar radiation of 2,300 kWh per m2. EPSE therefore is going to develop the region’s
