Hungarian solar panel manufacturer to build 87million$ thin film solar cells factory near Budapest
March 14, 2007
Source: Budapest Sun
http://www.budapestsun.com/cikk.php?id=25972
Hungarian solar panel manufacturer HelioGrid Magyarország Napelemgyártó Kft announced on Friday (Mar 9) that it is to build a Ft16.5bn ($87.3m) factory in Rétság (55km north of Budapest, in Nógrád county), wire services MTI and Interfax reported. The company said the thin-film solar module plant is necessary to meet increasing demand for the product in the region. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, creating 810 jobs.
Using a special technology, the factory will make solar panels which are 30% cheaper than conventional silicon-based panels, HelioGrid head István Maczinko told reporters at a press conference. A trial run is scheduled to start in June or July and the plant is planned to produce 3-megawatts capacity solar panels this year. It is slated to begin making 50MW capacity panels in 2008, with most production likely to be exported to Germany.
Some 60% of the project will be financed by Hungarian investors, with Swiss and US investors responsible for the remainder. HelioGrid was set up as a project company by EnerGoSolar SA, which is registered in Geneva, Switzerland, and is majority-owned by Hungarian investors.
Exports will be worth a combined Ft100bn ($529m) from 2009-2012 according to the business plan, Maczinko said, adding that the owners expect to recoup their investment in five years. Minister of Economics and Transportation János Kóka, also speaking at the press conference, said the government had earmarked Ft100bn in funding for renewable energy during the 2007-2013 EU budgetary period.
A Ft3bn ($15.8m) government fund to support energy efficient home-improvements will be available within a few weeks, he added. On Thursday (Mar 8) the 27 European Union member-state leaders reached broad agreement on plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, coupled with a switch to renewable energy sources, as part of the fight against global warming.
Prior to the EU debate, Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsány said that member states should not be forced by law to shift at least one-fifth of their energy consumption to renewable resources by 2020, as hoped for by the Commission, Germany (currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU) and several other members. Gyurcsány was quoted by state news agency MTI as saying, “We do not want Brussels to put pressure on Budapest on this issue.”
Gyurcsány argued that the country, currently in the grip of austerity measures to reduce the highest budget deficit in the Union, simply could not afford the investments which would be required.The goal of 20% renewable energy for the whole of the EU was feasible, but not for each individual member, the agency quoted him as saying.