Anwell Technologies Expands into Solar Panel Production

Anwell Technologies announced that it has started manufacturing solar panels in its Sunlite turnkey production line that was developed in-house. The company supplies process technologies and advanced manufacturing equipment to OLED, optical disc and solar industries. With the commencement of large-scale production of amorphous silicon thin-film solar panels, Anwell Technologies has expanded into solar production.

The initial annual production from the plant will be 40 MW and the company is planning to increase the production capacity to 120 MW by the end of 2010. The company will be using its German distribution centre to sell the solar panels in Europe.

Executive Chairman and CEO, Franky Fan, said the company has demonstrated its capabilities through the commencement of solar panels production within two years of its entry into the solar industry. The company is delighted with this new development, Fan said.

The existing production equipment in company is capable of being upgraded to increase its production capacity enabling the company to avoid investing in a separate production line thus allowing significant cost savings. According to data released by Solarbuzz, the solar installation reached a new high of 6.43 GW in the previous year. European countries led the world demand accounting for 4.75 GW or 74% of the world demand.

Displaybank, a global consulting and market research company, said the popularity of thin-film solar panels is increasing when compared to the conventional crystalline silicon panels. In 2009, thin-film solar panels accounted for 19.8% of the global solar panel production, an increase from 12.8% in 2008. The forecast for the thin-film panels in 2010 is 23.4% of the total global production of 12.1 GW.