German solar production line supplier Singulus Technologies has revealed plans to supply copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar panel manufacturing equipment to the CNBM Bengbu Design and Research Institute for Glass Industry.
The client is a unit of the state-owned China National Building Material and the order is worth €50 million. Singulus did not disclose any technical specifications of the deal.
CNBM will install the production lines at its factory in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province. The Singulus order marks the first phase of the Chinese company’s plans to expand production at Xuzhou to an eventual annual capacity of 300 MW, Singulus told pv magazine in a statement.
Expansion
“CNBM is … continuing to expand CIGS technology in China as planned and is by far the largest manufacturer of CIGS solar modules,” said Stefan Rinck, chairman of Singulus Technologies.
In September, Singulus warned it would not hit its sales and earnings targets for 2019. It attributed the poor performance to its delay in placing orders for the expansion of its CIGS thin-film solar production operations in China. At the time, Singulus said it did not expect CNBM to place an order for production equipment until at least the fourth quarter of last year.
Singulus Technologies recorded €128 million of revenue in 2018, up 39.8% on 2017. Net profit also rose, year on year, to €800,000. The group’s PV segment posted revenue of €98.5 million for the year, from €64.8 million 12 months earlier.
