PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Aleo expands module production to 60 MW

Although German company Aleo Solar GmbH hardly has finished doubling the annual capacity at its module production company Solarmanufaktur Deutschland GmbH (SMD) from nearly 15 MW to now around 25 to 30 MW (see PI 6/2004, p. 12), it is announcing new plans.

	© aleo solar GmbH
More modules: Aleo announced to construct a second factory in addition to its 30 MW facility near Berlin.

Construction of a new building is underway, and the module line is slated to go into operation in the first quarter of 2005. The new factory will increase total capacity to around 60 MW. Aleo believes these expansion plans will leave the company »well armed for future domestic and international markets."«

But the company is facing a short-term problem. As is the case with most other module manufacturers, Aleo currently could sell far more than it is in the position to produce. The number of workers is to rise from today's 140 up to 180 or 190 by the end of the year. By 2005, it is assumed that staff will be around 200. The range of products is to stay the same for the time being, according to Aleo's sales and marketing manager Detmar Dettmann: standard modules up to 190 W, which employ both five and six inch solar cells. Although the manufacturer also presented a prototype module with eight inch cells at the Intersolar trade fair in June in Freiburg, so far it remains unclear as to when mass production will begin for this new format; the earliest date could be summer 2005.