ersol inaugurates new cell production plant in Arnstadt, Germany
* Inauguration ceremony for ersol’s Cell Fab 2 attended by Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel
* Additional production capacity of 100 MWp
* Around EUR 46 million invested in cell production plant in Arnstadt
* Creation of up to 150 permanent jobs
* Environment relief of about 1 million tons of CO2 by one annual production
Arnstadt, 16 November 2007
Source; ersol solar energy, press release
http://www.ersol.de/en/newsmediarelations/pressreleases/pressrelease/news/1195200475/
?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=35&cHash=ed2936bd4d
ersol Solar Energy AG (ersol) is opening its second cell production plant this afternoon together with Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel. In just a few weeks, ersol will officially put its new facility for high-efficiency crystalline solar cells into operation. Around EUR 46 million was invested in the new production site for crystalline silicon solar cells in Arnstadt, which has a production capacity of 100 MWp. Up to 150 people will gradually be employed on a permanent basis in the second ersol cell production plant. The first multi- and monocrystalline silicon solar cells will leave Arnstadt in early 2008, thus supporting an environmentally friendly energy supply through a sustainable energy mix.
“It’s fantastic to celebrate the inauguration of our second plant for crystalline solar cells today. This is a major milestone in ersol’s efforts to expand its capacity. Crystalline cell production is a key component of our product portfolio. Now we can produce everything from wafers to solar cells in Arnstadt without too much logistics effort. This enables us to meet the strong market demand for our products. One annual production of the new solar cell factory is capable to supply 30,000 households with solar electricity and relieves the environment of about 1 million tons of carbon dioxide emission,” said Dr. Claus Beneking, CEO of ersol Solar Energy AG.
Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel will symbolically press the button to launch test operations at the new ersol cell production plant. It took just under a year to build the around 10,100-square-meter facility on a 41,000-square-meter plot of land. Construction of the new facility began in December 2006, and the topping-out ceremony took place in April 2007. M+W Zander FE GmbH erected a turnkey production building which was then equipped with the necessary production systems. Züblin Ost, a subcontractor from Jena in Thuringia, was responsible for the building shell. A total of 80 percent of the subcontractors hired by M+W Zander were companies from Thuringia. ersol now has another ultra-modern plant which will expand the Group’s nominal capacity in the field of crystalline cells to 220 MWp by the end of 2008. ersol plans to achieve a nominal capacity of 400 MWp by the end of 2010 and 500 MWp by the end of 2012. The ersol Group has already secured the silicon needed for this through various long-term supply contracts.
The production plant in Arnstadt will operate in four shifts for seven days a week, just like the plant in Erfurt. ersol’s proactive personnel strategy will enable it to meet its human resources needs for this new plant. Through successful cooperation with the Agentur für Arbeit (employment agency) and the BWAW further education institute in Erfurt, the ersol Group has already helped a sufficient number of skilled workers gain qualifications for the new cell production plant over the past months. These trained microtechnologists will therefore be able to begin work as soon as the Arnstadt facility officially goes into operation. ersol expects to employ around 1,000 people by the end of 2010. The ersol Group recently surpassed the 700-employee mark. The solar company currently employs 740 people.