Malaysian solar facility eyes yearly 1GW production

Air Products has signed a turnkey gas supply contract for a new crystalline PV facility in Melaka, Malaysia.

The turnkey gas supply contract includes bulk and specialty gases, specialty chemicals, and related gas distribution equipment. It will involve a long-term supply of on-site nitrogen, hydrogen, argon and oxygen, specialty gases such as silane, ammonia and nitrogen trifluoride.

The Melaka solar cell manufacturing plant aims to reach a capacity of more than 1 Gigawatt of cells per year by 2012.

"Air Products is very excited to be the gas supplier of a leader in crystalline photovoltaics which represents the highest efficiency, high volume photovoltaic technology. The Malaysia PV plant will be a core element of the customer's technology and manufacturing roadmap to achieve lower cost and reach the goal of grid parity," said Corning Painter, vice president and general manager, Global Electronics, Air Products. "Air Products is committed to developing alternative energy markets. Our expertise and complete turnkey offerings help our customers around the world reduce cost per watt and achieve a fast ramp-up."

The company's SunSource Solutions are used in all of the different PV technologies by established and start-up producers alike.