Swedish solar energy company Midsummer has started a collaboration with the Chinese manufacturer of thin film solar panels Kaisheng New Energy Technology. 

 

Kaisheng will produce thin film solar roof panels for Midsummer based on Midsummer's certifications and quality assurance, and Midsummer will have exclusive rights to sell these solar roof panels in Europe. "They will act as a complement to our other product lines and help expand our market," says Midsummer's CEO Eric Jaremalm.

 

Midsummer has signed an OEM agreement with Kaisheng for the production of thin film solar panels, based on a similar but slightly different CIGS thin film solar cell manufacturing technology developed by Midsummer and with Midsummer's certifications and quality assurance. Midsummer will have exclusivity to the European roof market for these panels.

 

Taking on a new market

“The collaboration provides several advantages for Midsummer and Kaisheng; We can supply our customers with products even in times of production restrictions in our own European factories. We can take on a new market that is more price sensitive. And we gain valuable insights into a slightly different thin film technology,” says Jaremalm.

 

“We see this as a long-term strategic collaboration that can have a positive impact on our business and development well into the future. In the short term, it will enable us to scale up faster and process a price-sensitive segment of the huge European market; Asian panels still enjoy favorable EU treatment in terms of tariffs etc and have a price advantage over European products which some customers value,” he says.

 

The new product will be marketed in Europe as BOLD S. It is similar to Midsummer's own model BOLD, a panel specially developed for weak and large flat or gently sloping roofs on mainly commercial and industrial buildings.

 

The two parties will jointly develop certain technology and material areas to further improve the product's functionality and production cost.

 

Midsummer plans to expand the thin film market in Europe together with Kaisheng, especially in the segment of weaker industrial ceilings which is an enormously large market that cannot be served by silicon panels as these are too heavy in contrast to our thin film products, concludes Jaremalm.--TradeArabia News Service