Thursday, November 27, 2008

Linde Signs 3 Thin Film Contracts, Captures over 50% of Market in China

Nov 26, 2008

The Linde Group's local subsidiary, Linde LienHwa, has signed contracts with Tianwei Baoding, Hangzhou Amplesun Solar and ENN Solar in China. These three new multi-million US dollar contracts are believed by the company to enable it to capture more than 50% of the thin film photovoltaic (PV) market in China.

As part of these long-term contracts, The Linde Group will be providing ongoing delivery of bulk and specialty gases essential to making thin film solar cells-- including large volumes of silane and hydrogen gas, used to deposit silicon light absorbing layers on large-area sheets of glass used in solar panels.The first phase of the ENN Solar plant in Langfang will start commercial production by Q2 of 2009, with a capacity of 60MW, and possible future expansion up to 0.5GW.

Baoding Tianwei Solarfilms is working with Linde to future-proof its gas installation and supply chain. Tianwei's new thin film solar production facility in Baoding, worth over Rmb1.2 billion (about US$180 million), will go online in the first quarter of 2009.

Hangzhou Amplesun Solar Technology Co Ltd is a privately invested high-tech company devoted to next-generation "green" power with a current investment of Rmb2.2 billion (about US$320 million). Jin Qing Guo, CEO of Amplesun Solar said: "Linde has been facilitating our needs on specialty gases as well as on-site services, which will greatly speed up our capacity scale-up in the production of thin film solar modules."

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