GEYONGGI-DO, KOREA/ST PETERS, US: MEMC Singapore Pte Ltd, an affiliate of MEMC Electronic Materials Inc and Jusung Engineering Co Ltd, announced a strategic partnership agreement to build and operate a high-efficiency solar cell production facility. MEMC and Jusung will form a 50/50 joint venture, with the partnership expected to require upfront capital of $16 million per partner.
The initial 100MW of capacity is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2012. “Through a small, capital efficient investment, we expect to combine the benefits of MEMC’s high performance Solaicx monocrystalline wafer technology with Jusung cell technology. The resulting innovative solar cells can be used by MEMC’s SunEdison subsidiary in solar power projects,” said Ken Hannah, President, Solar Materials, MEMC.
“This proprietary cell platform is expected to not only provide a low cost high efficiency module but also significantly reduce the project balance of system cost per watt. It is another example of MEMC’s continuous drive to lower the overall installed cost of solar energy,” added Hannah.
“We are excited to partner with an industry leader such as MEMC. While this is a new partnership for Jusung, our goal is to develop innovative equipment technologies to delight our customers,” said C J Hwang, CEO, Jusung.
In addition to the cell manufacturing joint venture, MEMC and Jusung’s strategic partnership allows the companies to market this low cost, high efficiency cell platform to key strategic cell manufacturing partners in the drive towards grid parity.
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