Ascent Solar Technologies acquires Flisom AG’s manufacturing equipment

According to its press release, Ascent Solar Technologies has completed an acquisition of the Zurich-based production assets of Flisom, a thin-film photovoltaic manufacturer. The release states that Ascent Solar, a developer and manufacturer of CIGS thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solutions, will retain its headquarters in Thornton in the U.S. state of Colorado, and will immediately start using its new 15-megawatt roll-to-roll production equipment in Switzerland. As a result, it expects to increase its production capacity by 300 per cent and expand its market, particularly in Europe and Asia.

In July last year, Heidelberg-based company MARNA Beteiligungen announced that its FL1 Holding GmbH had signed a purchase agreement for the acquisition of Flisom AG. FL1 Holding GmbH has stated that it is currently in the closing process with Flisom AG. However, there is still “a certain amount of uncertainty”, according to a current MARNA press release.

MARNA is persisting with the intended acquisition of the Flisom Group and emphasizes that the sold production equipment in Switzerland only represents around 30 per cent of Flisom AG’s production capacity for thin-film solar cells.

Flisom was established in 2005 as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Working together with the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Flisom has achieved an efficiency of 20.4 per cent for solar cells, which is a world record for plastic film. The roll-to-roll manufacturing process and production machinery developed by Flisom are paving the way for mass production of these innovative solar cells. ce/mm