Masdar PV will be auctioning off the thin-film production line equipment from its shuttered a-Si thin-film operations on October 8th, via an online auction to be conducted by Maynard’s, according to recent reports.
The equipment in question is coming to the auction via the closure of the company’s 60 MW Applied Materials ‘SunFab’ line at its facility in Germany. The decision to shutter that facility was announced back in May, so it’s not exactly surprising that the equipment is now finally up for sale.
Somewhat interestingly (humorously?) some of the equipment has been described as being “unused.” Hmm.
This is apparently due to the fact that, with the anticipation of higher demand in mind, Masdar PV had likely purchased a second production line from Applied Materials — which, apparently, never entered use.
On that note, the vice-president of NPD Solarbuzz, Finlay Colville, stated: “Masdar had been one of the highest profile customers for the turn-key a-Si based production line suppliers, and had originally been talking about US$1 billion level investments into a-Si manufacturing capacity in Germany and Masdar City. At the end of the day, only a fraction of the intended capacity was installed, with original commitments cancelled a long time ago.”
“From all the turn-key a-Si line deliveries over the years from AMAT, Oerlikon Solar, ULVAC and Jusung, there are only a few customers left today running equipment, with the long-term prospects for each of these increasingly under threat from the dominance of p-type multi c-Si modules on the market,” Colville noted.
Here’s a list of some of what’s up for sale, for those “interested”:
Frontend Equipment
Washers (Benteler)
Auto Seamer (Benteler)
PECVDs (AKT)
Abatement Systems: Pumping Stands, (Edwards) and Marathons (Metron)
Exhaust Air Filtration System PECVD (Keller)
PVD ATON 5.7 (Applied Materials)
Lasers (MANZ)
Glass Handling Robots (KUKA)
Glass Transport Conveyors (Grenzebach)
Glass Storage Systems / Accumulators
Laser Edge Delete Tool (Manz)
Backend Equipment
Laser Edge Delete (Manz / Rofin)
Shuntbusting and Cell-Measurement Tool (ATS)
Cut & Break (Grenzebach)
Seamer (Benteler)
Washers (Benteler)
Bussing/Soldering Tool (ATS)
Automated Lamination Preparation (Benteler)
Laminator (Kloepper)
Autoclave (Scholz)
Junction Box Attachment (ATS)
Solar Simulator (ATS)
Complete Line for Manufacturing of BIPV Modules
BIPV Laser for special Designs and Semitransparency (Manz)
Cutting Table (Hegla)
CNC-Automated Seamer (Benteler)
Washer (Benteler)
Vacuum Laminator (Meier)
BIPV Solar Simulator (Berger)
Air Cushion Tables for Manual Processing
Soldering Station (Weller)
Here’s the link if you want to bid on something.
Image Credit: Masdar PV
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