Oerlikon expects grid parity by 2010

TRÜBBACH, SWIZERLAND, September 2, 2008. Oerlikon Solar has said its facilities will achieve grid parity by 2010 in connection with the opening of the company’s new fully-automated thin-film pilot line at Trübbach, Switzerland.

“Our facilities will achieve grid parity by 2010,” Jeannine Sargent, Oerlikon Solar Chief Executive Officer, said at the opening in August.

The new pilot line will be used for production of, and research into, the latest thin-film solar modules.

“The new pilot line will further strengthen the Trübbach site. It is the hub of our worldwide research and development operations,” says Uwe Krüger, Chief Executive Officer at Oerlikon Corporation AG.

Oerlikon Solar says the new pilot line represents a double digit million Swiss francs investment, but has not disclosed the exact price tag. The laboratory will enable the company to stimulate all stages of the manufacturing process on site for the first time.

Following the opening, Oerlikon Solar says it anticipates sales of more than CHF700 million in sales this year, and expects to break the billion mark in 2009.

The company is also currently building a new site for the Asian market in Singapore, which will begin operating in 2009, and by 2009, is expects to have more than 1,000 people in high-tech jobs in Switzerland.

According to Oerlikon Solar, experts valued the thin-film solar market at more than US$17 billion in 2007.

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