New Spanish firm starts manufacturing modules

The Spanish company Siliken began module production in a new factory in Valencia in January.

© Siliken With a background in the auto industry, Carlos Navarro (middle) and other engineers have begun a small module production in Spain.

Siliken plans to produce 1.5 MW in 2002, using a two-shift operation with seven employees. A business plan has set production targets of 3 MW for 2003 and 5 MW for 2004. According to Carlos Navarro, the company’s general manager, Siliken will sell its modules primarily in Spain. »Our volume is too small and our price not competitive enough to succeed in large markets like Germany,« where wholesalers usually buy modules in multi-hundred-kilowatt batches, Navarro explains. But he sees good opportunities for the company on the still-embryonic grid-tied Spanish market, with its few integrators. »We plan to sell directly to installers to cut costs,« he adds.

Siliken offers two standard glass-tedlar module sizes of 100 and 170 W. It will also assemble glass-glass modules for BIPV applications using the transparent Power-Cell of the German firm Sunways.

The new company is privately owned by its management. Navarro, a 33-year-old electrical engineer with experience in the auto industry, owns a 50 percent share; Gonzales Navarro and Alfredo Puche each have 20 percent; and Francisco Gavidia, a bank director and financial consultant to Siliken, has a 10 percent stake. ms
 

Michael Schmela
© PHOTON International, February 2002